Sly Cooper and the Happy Campers Orphanage
by Shady Fetish
Summary: What would happen if Sly was attacked and induced with amnesia? This story is about his adventure to try and remember everything while working at the same orphange he went to when he was eight years old. [COMPLETED! (YAY]
1. Prologue: The Dawning of a Problem

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Sly Cooper or any characters or any stuff associated with this game. All that belongs to Sucker Punch and Sony, after all, I am just a mere fangirl writing a fanfic! Note: I don't own ANY copyrighted content except the fictional characters I made up for this (namely, the villains and other nameless folks).

**(Prologue: Dawning of a Problem)**

It was nighttime in the city of Paris. The streetlights were one of the only sources of light. The moon was full and bright, illuminating the buildings and scenery. It was all peace and quiet...Until the blissful silence of the night was suddenly broken with loud police sirens, blaring through a certain radius of the city block.

And there was Sly, climbing up a pipe on the side of the bank with his trademark cane in his mouth. Surprisingly, the police weren't on a goose chase after Sly for once. Sly and the police were waiting for one of the most talked about criminals in town to steal loot from the bank.

The raccoon thief crouched down, out of the way of the police lights and view. He quietly moved along below the top of the wall, his movements slinky and elegant. He was going to steal the booty from the criminal when he saw him and take it for himself. Or at least that was his plan that night. He stayed low, awaiting his fellow companion's orders.

"Sly, come in, Sly!" Sly could hear Bentley's nasal voice through his microphone earpiece.

"Bentley, do you see anything suspicious?" Sly asked into the microphone that was tucked neatly into his collar where it couldn't be seen. Sly gripped his cane tighter, awaiting an answer from his friend and being cautious incase anyone was around.

"LOOK BEHIND YOU!" Bentley panicked. "I can't believe my radars on the Bino-cu-com didn't pick this up EARLIER." Sly did as instructed, but it was too late.

Sly was looking up at a bull clutching a bag full of money in one hand and a sharp-edged metal pipe in the other. Sly stood up and began backing away, holding up his cane in defense. The bull appeared to be ignoring the fact the police were telling him to put the money down and surrender.

"No one is going to be in my way, not even a puny ring-tail," the bull muttered. He had a low, deep voice.

Sly was surprised as the cane was knocked out of his gloved hand. The raccoon was trying to stay calm, ignoring the insult as he reached for his cane. He couldn't loose the cane. It was too precious andit wasa family heirloom.

"No cane for the raccoon!" To Sly's horror, the bull picked up the cane and threw it down the alleyway, out of reach for Sly. The raccoon was about to jump after it, except the bull grabbed Sly by the collar, dropped the bag of money and raised the pipe.

An impact landed on Sly's head. An explosion of piercing pain ran through his head. The bull dropped him as Sly clutched his head in agony. He raised his pipe once more, preparing to strike. Sly would have moved, except he was in so much pain that he wasvulnerable to more of it. The bull struck the helpless raccoon on the head once more. Sly felt something pierce him this time. He pulled off his hat, touched the top of his head and pulled his paw down. There was a dark stain in his glove.

Before Sly knew it, the bull made his final strike, picked Sly up and threw him down into the alleyway. He made a run for it, dodging all of the bullets the police had been shooting at him in order to stop him.

Sly's world went black as he landed on the paved alleyway...

**(Erased...)**

A white, speckled ceiling was straight above the patient as he slowly woke up, his vision slightly blurry. His head felt sore and heavy, with bandages wrapped around his head. The bed beneath him was lumpy, making him feel even more uncomfortable.

He observed his surroundings more and saw how spotless the room was. It wanted to make him sick, with its mix of white curtains and ivory and forest green colored tiles on the floor.

The patient heard the creak of the door in one corner of the room as a female gray rabbit dressed in white entered the room, carrying a clipboard and scribbling notes on it with a pen. She was soon followed by a male Siberian tiger in blue, who was holding a folder, a plastic bag and an odd looking cane, which had a hook-like end.

"Good afternoon," the tiger greeted. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm sore like hell and I don't know why. Does that answer your question?" the patient answered angrily as he sat up. The tiger and the rabbit looked at each other nervously. The tiger, who appeared to be the doctor, gulped nervously as he placed the bag and the cane down on a chair next to the patient's bed.

"Your friends said those were your things. They couldn't see you in person, but they wish you a fast recovery," the doctor said, pausing for a moment. "Can you remember anything? Can you tell me your name?"

"Um...it's...um..." Nothing popped into his mind. There was nothing but emptiness.

"Global amnesia... Just as I suspected. We knew you would forget something. You were hit on the head pretty hard. You're lucky you weren't hit anymore than that," the doctor commented. "Nurse, write that down." The rabbit was scribbling down notes on the clipboard she was holding.

"According to the files here, your name is Sly Cooper...wait, Sly Cooper? You're the 'master thief' that's been causing ruckus in Paris lately? Who knew we'd end up with a criminal on our hands?" The doctor seemed worried as he paced back and forth, thinking. "But I'll let you go without telling the police. It wouldn't be fair to you since you can't remember."

"Doctor, what are we going to do to attract the least attention to him as possible? If the police recognized him, they'd be all over him!" the nurse pointed out.

"You're quite right, Nurse," the doctor agreed.

Sly was silent. He was nervous about what they were going to do to him. For all he knew, the doctor could've lied about not sending him to the police. Or they could be lying to him about his name or anything else.

"It says here that your father died when you were very young, Sly, and then you were sent to Happy Campers Orphanage at age eight in a town right outside of Paris," the doctor started, making sure he had Sly's attention. "Perhaps we can send you there under a different name, where you can work until you remember something and then when you remember something, report back to us as soon as possible!"

"Granted you can't do any stealing and you can't tell anyone your real name," the nurse added. "Oh, yes and we're going to have to deliver your things back to your friends. You're not going to need them at the orphanage." The doctor nodded in agreement.

"We'll contact your friends about the plan and have them deliver other clothes of yours. Maybe something that isn't blue, eh?" the doctor said with a chuckle. "You just stay here and rest. Come, Nurse, let's leave him alone!" The nurse nodded, her ears flopping as she left the room. The doctor picked up the cane and the crinkly plastic bag and followed the nurse out, leaving Sly alone by himself.

Sly slumped back down and closed his eyes. He tried going to sleep, but he couldn't now. What the doctor had told him revived his interest. Was Sly really the thief the doctor had told him he was or was the doctor just trying to get him interested to try and remember everything? Sly lay motionless and finally drifted off to a dreamless sleep.

**(Two more weeks...)**

"Mr. Cooper, wake up!" the doctor ordered as he shook Sly awake. Sly groaned as he grudgingly opened his eyes to see the same doctor from before place another plastic bag down on the same chair next to the same bed.

"What's going on?" Sly inquired as he sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"We have a new alias for you when you go to the orphanage," the doctor announced. "You'll be off to the orphanage in a matter of two weeks. That will give you time for that wound on your head to heal. Maybe you'll remember something too, but I doubt it. Whatever you were doing killed off quite a few brain cells." With that, the doctor left the room.

'_Great. Two more weeks in this dump and I might go crazy. I can't trust anyone here either. I don't know anything...' _Sly mentally complained as he lay back down. For a moment, he thought he was going to get to go and try remembering everything.

**(Random notes for your everyday life!)**

Appendix notes: I actually did research amnesia before I started writing this story and there is such a thing as global amnesia. I'll point out definitions of certain amnesia below so you people don't have to...

Global amnesia: Loss of memory all around that can last up to 24 hours or MORE (this is what happened to Sly in the fanfiction)

Lacunar amnesia: Loss of a certain event

Childhood amnesia: Loss of events in one's childhood

Traumatic amnesia: Loss of memory due to trauma


	2. Chapter One: The Cooper Cub

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Sly Cooper or any characters or any stuff associated with this game. All that belongs to Sucker Punch and Sony, after all, I am just a mere fangirl writing a fanfic! Note: I don't own ANY copyrighted content except the fictional characters I made up for this (namely, the villains and other nameless folks).

**(Chapter One: The Cooper Cub)**

It was two weeks later in the hospital. Sly had been idly laying in the hospital bed for the last two weeks, going through the same routine everyday—sleep, eat, sleep, eat and other bodily functions and so on and so forth. He was about ready to leave the hospital for his job at the orphanage.

Today, the doctor was going to come with his name for when he'd be at the orphanage and finally let Sly go off to the orphanage with some arranged transportation. That was why Sly was so excited about today...

Sly had remained perky, bright-eyed and bushy tailed all morning until mid-morning. At 10:30 A.M., just as Sly guessed, the door opened with the doctor and the nurse entering. The doctor walked over to the chair next to Sly's bed and opened the plastic bag that he had left sitting on it for the last two weeks. The crinkle of the bag revealed a forest green sweater, a pair of dark blue jeans and a pair of brown shoes.

"Today's the day, eh?" the nurse commented. The doctor nodded as Sly sat up. "Mr. Smith." Sly cocked an eyebrow (or what would be his eyebrow) as the doctor cleared his throat.

"Daniel Smith is your alias. Not Sly Cooper. When you are at the orphanage, you have to learn to react to the name Daniel Smith. You're going to need it if you're staying undercover there," the doctor announced. "Now go change in that bathroom over there!" The doctor ordered as he pointed to the other side of the room.

Sly quickly stood up as he grabbed the clothes from the doctor, ran off into the specified bathroom and slammed the door shut. After a moment, the raccoon realized it was still pitch black in the bathroom. He raced his paw along the wall and felt for a light switch. He quickly found it as he flicked it on and let his eyes get used to the light, then proceeded to take off the hospital gown he was wearing.

"Daniel" stared at the green sweater in disgust after taking five minutes to slip it on over his bandages and pull his arms through the sleeves. He felt suffocated in the turtleneck of the sweater and the sleeves went at least half an inch past his arms. This made him pull the sleeves up until the sweater fit right. The jeans were hard to get on because of his own tail. Sly became so aggravated that he had to cut a hole in the butt of the pants with a pair of scissors that a worker appeared to have left behind on the sink. After that, the jeans fit him perfectly. The only things that fit Sly perfectly by default were the brown shoes.

After putting all of the garments on, "Daniel" looked in the mirror that was above the sink and observed his appearance. He decided he looked rather scary. Who wouldn't be, with all the bandages wrapped around his head? Sly shuddered as he realized he looked like someone who was actually married.

"Are you done in there, Mr. Cooper?" the nurse asked from outside the bathroom. "The doctor says your ride will be here soon!" Sly exited the bathroom clutching the hospital gown he was wearing before. "Very dashing, Mr. Cooper." The nurse blushed slightly as Sly paced back over near the bed and placed the gown on top of it.

"It appears to fit all right..." the doctor trailed off. "Now let's go down to the parking lot. I've arranged ahead of time for one of my friends who works at the orphanage to take you." Sly reluctantly followed the doctor out of the room, saying naught a word.

The winding hallways had the same sanitary white that had decorated Sly's room. There was crying from some rooms, rejoicing from others, depending on the occasion that had occurred in that particular room. It seemed to go on forever, making the hospital seem more like a mansion. Sly wished it would end. He had spent enough time in the hospital.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the doctor had lead Sly up to the front desk, quickly signed a paper that a secretary had handed him and then continued walking out the revolving front door. The door lead to a large parking lot. It was filled with so many cars that Sly thought the two of them would get lost, except the doctor stopped at the corner of the curb.

"We wait here. My friend should be here soon," the doctor explained as he sat down on the bench nearby. "He might be late. He said it's usually hard to get out of there due to the lack of staff."

Sly leaned against a trash can. Nervous thoughts were stirring inside him. This was the first time from anything he could remember that he had been outside the hospital. This made his wait seem longer. For him, the wait seemed to be for an eternity, when in reality it was only about ten to fifteen minutes.

A blue mini-van pulled up to the curb and the front door on the side of the driver's seat opened. A male calico cat dressed in a short sleeved brown shirt and a pair of khaki pants. The cat's age showed with the white strands of fur contaminating his brown fur, making Sly guess he was in his early forties. He pulled down the sunglasses that he was wearing and revealed narrow, light green eyes.

"About time, Cody!" the doctor exclaimed as he stood up. Sly straightened himself as he followed suit of the doctor and walked over to right in front of Cody. "Cody, this is Daniel Smith. Daniel, this is Cody Bryan." Sly shook Cody's paw as Cody opened the passenger's seat in the front.

"We better get going if we're going to make good time. I had one of the volunteers fill in for me, but she had to leave at one. Let's go, Daniel!" Cody suggested. "Bye, Luke." Sly buckled himself up and closed the door. Before he knew it, Cody had buckled his seatbelt himself and turned on the ignition.

The first hour of the ride was blissful silence, except for the roaring of the van's engine and the music of a rock radio station. Sly was drowning in his thoughts. He had a bad feeling about the orphanage and Cody and all who currently worked or resided there.

The music went away with the click of a button as Cody turned off the radio and cleared his throat.

"So you're Daniel...Luke said a lot about you over the phone. He's right though... You do look a bit familiar..." Cody trailed off. Sly was desperate to say something back.

"Um...Mr. Bryan, how is it like at the orphanage?" Sly asked. Cody chuckled slightly, keeping his eyes on the road.

"First off, before I answer anymore of your questions, don't use the formalities. Just call me 'Cody'," the cat started. "Now, what was your question?"

"How is it like at the orphanage?" Sly repeated.

"Hm...Well, despite the name 'Happy Campers Orphanage', the orphanage is not a happy place. The place is a bit understaffed, so sometimes, when we're not looking, fights break out between even two of the youngest kids. The children's quarters are cramped and in horrible condition. I don't think the other workers even care about the children at all...they never worry about them, just themselves...There was this one cub..." Cody didn't finish his sentence and frowned.

"What is it?" Sly asked. He wanted to get as much information about the orphanage as possible.

"Well...you promise not to tell anyone I told you this?" Sly quickly nodded. "Well, there was this one raccoon cub named Sly Cooper. Loneliest cub I've ever seen. He seemed to have a sad childhood. According to the orphan files, the kid saw his father die at the hand of five criminals, his mother had abandoned both of them long before that and those murderers...they got away with the killing of the father. He never seemed to have that many friends. Just these two other orphans: a turtle, Bentley and a hippo, Murray." Cody paused a minute, making a left turn, leaving Sly a minute to take this all in.

None of this information seemed to ring a mental bell in Sly's head. It just seemed to connect with what the doctor (Sly assumed he was "Luke") had stated back at the hospital correctly. Sly still couldn't remember any of this though. He decided to refer to this Sly Cooper he was listening to about as a different raccoon.

"When the orphanage first located Sly, they found him alone in the house he had been living in with his father. The poor cub had been surviving off what money his father had stashed within the house, but he was about broke—nothing in his name. He didn't have any nearby relatives to take him in either. We at the orphanage decided that his relatives were either dead or didn't care about him at all. It was very sad indeed."

"So this cub was pretty much all by himself before you found him?"

"That's right. I don't think he ever got over the death of his father. You see, Sly always carried an odd looking stick with an end that was like a hook. He said it was his father's and then he told his only two friends that his family was a great legacy of thieves and that the family stored their 'techniques' in some odd book. He called it the 'Thievius Raccoonus' if I remember correctly." Cody scoffed at the story. "I decided it was probably just some fairy tale his father told him to keep him entertained."

"What happened to him?" Sly asked, getting sick of hearing details.

"Well...it was rather strange what happened to him. At age fifteen, a couple years before the orphanage would have released him into the real world on their own, Sly and his two friends ran away without any clues of where they went. No note, no nothing. Every possession they owned between the three of them was gone! All of it...If anyone had just stopped Sly and his friends from doing that..."

"I'm sorry about them. What happened to them after that?"

"No one is quite sure what exactly had happened to the trio, but there was a five year gap before we ever heard the name 'Sly Cooper' again. It was in the newspaper: there was a police file stolen by a Sly Cooper from one of the officers in Paris." Cody paused for a moment as he took an intersection. "No one is sure whether it's really the same Sly Cooper we knew from the orphanage, but there have been rumors spread around...If it's true, then I wish I could have stopped Sly. He had a talent for...drawing. During art time at the orphanage, he used to sketch properly proportioned figures doing moves and poses. They were quite well done for someone his age...an eight year old when he first started...If only I had figured him out sooner..."

Obviously not wanting to talk about the cub anymore, Cody turned the radio back on and became silent, also opening the windows slightly. Sly sorted the entire story in his head carefully, keeping it in mind incase he really was this cub. It all seemed so farfetched though, but perhaps that was because Sly didn't know who or what to believe at this point.

Sly decided to rest his eyes, letting the cross breeze in the car blow by him. Sly was tired because he had been excited last night. He couldn't go to sleep because he was ready to find out the truth. Sly's mind had been active, thinking up theories and creating stories.

Before Sly knew it, he drifted off to sleep...

**(Sly's imagination just went active...)**

_**The raccoon was sneaking, his adrenaline pumping and his heart thumping. One false move would mean trouble. Despite the danger this brought upon him, he always had fun doing things like this. It was more of a pleasure or interest than a pastime. **_

**_He hit the vent open and dropped into a building. The smell of tobacco and smoke instantly filled his nose, making him sneeze once or twice. He wiped his nose and waited for an order._**

"_**I don't know about this, Sly..." a nasally voice commented.**_

"_**Don't worry. I'll be fine..." the raccoon replied back in a calm, quiet voice. "Just let me do this!" **_

"_**But I don't think this is the right—"**_

"**_Quiet, Bentley!" He snuck around the premises until he realized something was wrong. "Where's the lot?"_**

"**_It's at the other end of the building..." Bentley sounded very annoyed as he pointed this out._**

"**_Oh...okay." Suddenly, there was a blow of a whistle. "THE GUARDS!?" The raccoon ran to the other end of the dark corridor and bashed a window open. He expertly jumped out of it into a parking lot full of cars and vans. "Where is it?"_**

"_**It's two rows in, second one to the left!" He followed the instructions and sure enough, there was his dream van, equipped with radars and such. **_

"_**Looks like it'll need a bit of redecorating..." the raccoon trailed off as he hopped into the van, slammed the door shut and quickly turned on the ignition. The engine purred as he drove out of the parking lot.**_

"_**Good work. Now get the van back to the hideout. We'll fix it up from there..."**_

**(The reality returns once more...)**

"Wake up, Daniel, we're almost there." Cody's voice woke Sly out of his dream.

"Really?" Sly asked the driver as he rubbed his eyes. Cody nodded.

"Welcome to Lauderville. We're a couple blocks away from the orphanage," Cody announced. Cody didn't notice Sly's grin.

Sly had just had the best dream since...in a long time from what he could remember. Everything was so vivid and realistic. It had his heart beating faster and faster, as if he had been there. Sly exhaled, calming himself down.

"Bad dream, eh?" Cody asked as they pulled into a gravel driveway.

"Um...yeah," Sly quickly lied. He looked out the window and saw a gloomy looking building loom ahead. It sat atop a lonely hill that had barely even a blade of grass upon it. The sky behind it was gray and cloudy, adding to the atmosphere.

Sly and Cody both unbuckled and got out of the car. Sly looked at a nearby sign and it read "Happy Campers Orphanage" in black. Some of the paint from the sign was chipping off, making the sign look like "H-p-y Ca-per- ----age". Cody motioned Sly to follow him up a dirt path leading to the entryway of the orphanage.

The inside looked even gloomier on the inside. There was tacky wallpaper peeling and the ceiling appeared to have a crack or two. To the right, there was a desk with a female white owl secretary with a stack of papers in front of her.

"Excuse me, but Daniel Smith here would like to speak to the headmistress," Cody said, tapping the secretary slightly on the shoulder. The secretary looked up with beady yellow eyes and sighed.

"Slow day today...as always..." she said, yawning with her beak wide. "Well, let's go..." The secretary stood up and led the two of two through a door that was right next to her desk. This led the three of them to a staircase. The stairs creaked with each step and Sly could barely see where he was going—meaning there weren't any lights this way.

After three sets of cases, the secretary took them to a room with a cherry wood desk that seemed to never have been dusted. Behind it, there was a large chair, but Sly couldn't see who was behind it. However, he could see two uncomfortable looking chairs in front of the desk and file cabinets lined along the walls, all the same bland gray. There were no windows. The only source of light was a lamp on the desk, which hurt Sly's eyes after having to walk through such a dark area previously.

"Excuse me, Madam Teresa, there is a raccoon gentleman here to see you for a job," the secretary announced nervously. There was a slight grunt, resulting in the chair behind the desk behind turned around.

"Let me see him," the animal in the chair said. Her voice sounded blunt with each word she said. Sly twitched nervously, being reluctant about walking over. "Let me see him." The female sounded even blunter than the first time.

Sly looked at Cody, who nodded, his face wearing an expression of worry. Sly cautiously walked over in front of the desk and peered into the face of the female. To his surprise, she appeared to be an elderly raccoon. Her eyes seemed to have a strong dislike for Sly.

"Go back to your posts!" the headmistress barked at Cody and the secretary. The two of them skittered out of the room and closed the door behind them with a thud. "Sit down, my fellow raccoon. I think I ought to get to know my future worker better." Sly sat down in one of the chairs. "What's your name?"

"Daniel Smith," Sly replied.

"Uh huh..." The headmistress nodded as she rummaged through a drawer in her desk and pulled out a folder marked "Code of Conduct". "You're a friend of Mr. Bryan's, are you?" Sly bobbed his head up and down for the sake of it. "Well, I'll see how you do tomorrow. Then we'll see if you're orphan dirt material or not." She shoved the folder across the desk, which Sly took willingly. "Now go!"

The headmistress had raised the pitch of her voice, making Sly rush out of the room and literally slamming the door behind him...


	3. Chapter Two: Sly's Storytelling

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Sly Cooper or any characters or any stuff associated with this game. All that belongs to Sucker Punch and Sony, after all, I am just a mere fangirl writing a fanfic! Note: I don't own ANY copyrighted content except the fictional characters I made up for this (namely, the villains and other nameless folks).

**(Chapter Two: Sly's Storytelling)**

Sly entered his room after being introduced to the owl secretary (whose name was Gertrude Deuducle), gripped the folder that he had received from the headmistress tighter and flopped down on the bed. Sly couldn't help but notice how stiff the mattress was. He nudged it a couple times while lying down and felt a spring pushing against his back.

Sly quickly sat up and inspected the room. There was small bathroom in a cramped looking room with a door that led to it off to the left of the bed. There was a medium sized window with a ragged navy blue curtain to the right of Sly's bed. Ahead of the bed were a desk and a chair with a reading lamp, a telephone and a small mirror on the desk. Next to the desk was a small trash bin. Other than that, there was nothing else to note.

With that, the raccoon stood up, left the folder on the bed and picked up the mirror that lay on the desk. Sly felt the top of his head and glared into the mirror.

_'Stupid Doctor Luke! He never had anyone take off my bandages at the hospital! Probably got too excited...' _Sly thought angrily as he marched off to the bathroom and began peeling the bandage off in front of a mirror over a sink.

Gradually, Sly saw more and more of the fur on his head where it was covered by the bandage. To Sly's amazement, there didn't appear to be any fur cut off. He quickly divulged a tuft of gray fur that curled just the slightest bit upward after throwing out the bandage. Rubbing his head thoughtfully, Sly mentally pointed out that if there was a wound that the bandage was supposed to cover, then it had been closed shut.

Walking out of the bathroom, Sly picked up the folder, sat down at the desk and cracked it open, opening up to the fifth page. Sly would return to the first page later, using an odd reading habit.

_**[Important rules and guidelines to follow at the orphanage...**_

_**1) You must obey all regulations. This is a must if we want to set a good example for the young ones.**_

_**2) You must be in proper attire—clean, neat and organized. No shirts with writing on them or pictures or other inappropriate content. There also must be no rips, tears or holes in clothing.**_

_**3) No profanity or inappropriate slang of any kind is allowed while you are within the premises of the orphanage.] **_

Sly's mind wandered. He had been told Cody would come and get him at 5:00 for supper preparations, but the raccoon was already bored. He looked at a clock that was sitting on the desk that he didn't notice before.

4:05.

Time was going to pass forever if Sly was going to be bored like this for the rest of the time...He focused his attention back to the paper in front of him.

_**[ 4) You must be at your post for the whole period of time that you are demanded to be at that job until the end of the time period or if it is an emergency.**_

**_5) All accidents must be reported to the headmaster (or headmistress). NO EXCEPTIONS! ...]_**

'_Yeah...boring,' _Sly thought in annoyance as he looked out the window.

There were children playing in the yard, ranging from ages two to eleven. They were all fenced in by a tall, wooden fence. There didn't appear to be too much things to do at first, but then Sly looked closer and saw a sandbox, a set of swings and a tetherball pole. Unlike when he first entered the orphanage, there were at least a few large patches of green grass to look at, but not enough to compensate for the lack of trees and bushes. Something else caught the raccoon's eye as he saw two young critters (a Black Labrador pup wearing a blue shirt and a smaller one in a white shirt with pink denim overalls) breaking out into a fight. There weren't any adults nearby to stop them.

Sly sighed after realizing how hard it would be to work in such a place. He'd have to re-teach the young ones not to fight so much. If he was going to impress Madam Teresa, he would have to do so much work.

He closed the folder shut and stood up, leaving the folder on the desk. Sly flopped back down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. He was thinking about what he should do to pass the time by until Cody would come and get Sly for supper preparations at five o' clock.

'_I can't just sit here and watch the kids and I can't leave the room since I was told to stay here...' _Sly thought as he walked over to the window. He observed the surroundings again and opened the window. Sly looked to his left, and there was a metal pipe attached to the wall. _'I wonder...'_ Sly sat on the window ledge and carefully edged to the left, and then he carefully grabbed the pipe, slowing inching down it so that he wouldn't fall (his room was on the third floor).

**(Madam Teresa and her suspicion...)**

Madam Teresa was sitting in her chair waiting within the darkness of her office. The door creaked open as Cody poked his head in.

"Come sit, Mr. Bryan. I have a couple questions to ask you," the headmistress said. Cody rushed over and sat down quickly, not wanting to upset his boss.

"What is it, Madam? Is this about the regulations by any chance?" Cody questioned. Madam Teresa shook her head, smirking in the most mischievous way.

"No. It's about your little friend, Mr. Smith." She paused for a moment, leaning back in her chair. "Isn't it awfully suspicious that he has all that cloth on his head?" Cody perked up, not wanting to get his fellow worker to be in trouble.

"Well...I did pick him up from the hospital!" he quickly answered. The headmistress narrowed her eyes, frowning.

"The hospital? You picked your friend up from the HOSPITAL?!" Madam Teresa stood up, knocking her chair back and pounding the desk with her paw in a fist. Cody shuddered as he was quickly reminded of his boss's temper. "HE COULD BE DAMN SICK FOR ALL WE KNOW!"

"Don't worry, Madam, he was just in there for a head injury. Nothing like pneumonia, AIDS or anything else contagious," Cody answered quietly, trying to coax Madam to calm down. "The doctor said he was injured to the head by a light post." The enraged Teresa sat down, breathing heavily in order to release stress.

"Head injuries, eh?" To Cody's relief, Madam had calmed down and was speaking rationally now. "Well, did Daniel Smith get reported for amnesia?" Cody shook his head.

"None at all, thankfully."

"You go then...you go then..."

Cody stood up and tip-toed quietly as he left the room. As soon as the door closed, Madam Teresa smirked as she stood up, searched amongst her many file cabinets and pulled out a file labeled "Cooper, Sly" and read through it thoughtfully, observing the photo attached closely.

"I still have my suspicions." She smirked as she put the file back in its place.

**(Down in the backyard...)**

Sly's foot touched the ground gently as he reached the bottom of the pipe. He let go of the pipe and found himself standing on solid ground. He pivoted around and saw that the children appeared to have gone inside the building while Sly had been climbing down. With all of them gone, Sly decided to take an opportunity to inspect his surroundings more.

There were all of the things he had seen before, but Sly was able to spot new things this time. Sly, looking over his shoulder, located a door into the first floor of the building and a large, sturdy looking box with jump ropes, hula hoops and a bag of balls. In the sandbox, there was a plastic pail and a plastic shovel sticking out from the sand. Nothing much else to see...

Sly was about to climb back up the pipe, but to his horror, he heard a voice coming from behind.

"Who are you, mister?" a young voice demanded. Sly looked over his shoulder and saw a five year old joey with a white shirt and baby blue scarf, making Sly assume it was a boy. He turned around with a smile on his face.

"The name's S—Daniel Smith," Sly greeted. "I might be hired here if I'm lucky enough." The young kangaroo grinned evilly, concocting an idea in his own mind. "What's your name? I might as well get to know the kids here..."

"Oh? Me? My name is Chandler..." Chandler paused for a moment. "I was supposed to come out here to pick up the sandbox toys, but I think I'll..." He paused for a moment as he dragged Sly over to the sandbox and walked over behind the raccoon. "...LET YOU DO IT!" Sly was pushed over into the sand face-first, hearing the laugh of Chandler grow more distant. The raccoon's face felt hot under the fur with annoyance.

"Daniel's" eyes watered as he rubbed the sand out of them, getting up and leaving the toys in the sandbox out for Chandler to clean up later. Sly also brushed his pants and shirt off since he couldn't leave any evidence of him ever being in the playground area. He smirked as he scurried back up the pipe and climbed into his window.

Back in his boring room, Sly quickly checked the clock once more: 4: 55.

_'Only five more minutes!' _Sly thought in relief as he headed off to his bathroom. He checked in the mirror for any sand that may have gotten caught up in his fur. Sure enough, there was a clump of sand and dirt stuck. He ran a paw through water, then his fur. After using a wash cloth located on the edge of the small bathtub/shower, his fur looked as it did before. It was all done just in time too.

A knock on the door soon followed. Sly rushed out of the bathroom and opened the door. There was Cody, his tail twitching nervously and his eyes worried. He guided Sly down two levels of the building and led him over to the main level. The stairs and floor were all creaking, making the trip noisy. To add to the volume of the creakiness, Cody was silent the whole way down, not letting Sly guess why the cat was so worried.

A twisted hallway led the two animals into a large dining room. Unlike the rest of the building, this room had a tile floor that was white—almost exactly like the hospital. It made Sly want to be sick all over again, as it was paired with white walls and at least ten windows. It also seemed to hurt Sly's eyes, with its brightness compared to the gloominess of the other rooms.

"This is the dining room," Cody pointed out as he motioned Sly to follow him through a white door that had a sign above it stating "Employees Only".

And there lay ahead the kitchen. There was a fairly large counter in the middle, with a counter along the edge of one of the walls for storage underneath and sinks. There were also cabinets and two closets for even more storage. One wall had at chunk of counter, a stove, a refrigerator combined with a freezer and a large, aluminum trash can.

"Nice kitchen," Sly said in awe. The kitchen was quite large and spacious.

"Hm...Well, you're lucky you're not actually assigned to cleaning up tonight. It can be a ruckus in the kitchen after meals sometimes since everyone is rushing a lot to get everything done," Cody announced. He paused for a moment and then smirked. "You're going to watch the five through seven year olds tonight."

"That's just great..." Sly trailed off.

"There's about twenty of them all together. A little less than that..." Sly glared at the ground. "Still quite a lot though, eh?" Sly nodded in agreement. "Well...we do need some help with cooking tonight, so why don't you hang around in here and help out?"

"Sure." Sly and Cody washed their paws in the sink, waiting for their orders from the head chef of the kitchen.

"Little rascals...They're here early and they're more hyper than usual!" a worker warned as they poked their head into the kitchen. "Whoever is supposed to be watching any of them better get out there now!" Sly's mouth dropped as Cody grinned at the nervous raccoon.

"Don't worry, Daniel, you'll do just fine!" Cody assured. He pulled Sly towards the door and opened it. "Those are the five through seven year olds." Cody pointed towards a table at the farthest corner of the room—also the noisiest table. "Good luck!"

Cody went back into the kitchen. Sly felt sweat under his fur and gulped nervously. He was shaking slightly as he walked over to his destination. He mentally counted fifteen children at that table in all—even that was a pretty large group.

There was chatter amongst the youngsters and pounding of fists (or paws) on the table. Sly tried clearing his throat once, but it didn't seem to catch the attention of the children. "Excuse me, kids..." That didn't work either. Sly's voice was too quiet for them to hear. There was only one thing he could do.

With a smack, Sly pounded his fist on the table as hard as he could. The sound surprised the little critters as they looked up at Sly with huge eyes. They weren't exactly shaking in terror, but Sly had achieved his goal by grabbing their attention. They were quieted down. In fact, most of the noise in the room was drowned out because of Sly's action. Now to introduce himself...

"Hey, it's, Mr. Bushy-Ring-Tail!" an annoyingly familiar voice. Chandler's head popped up from behind a female Siamese kitten that had long, dark brown hair pulled back into a braid.

"Hello again, Chandler," Sly greeted as he rolled his eyes. "And it's Mr. Smith."

"Mr. Smith?" a male squirrel asked. Sly nodded in approval.

"I'm a bit new here, so I'd like it if all the five year olds raised their hands." A third of the table raised their hands, including Chandler. "Six year olds?" Another third of the table raised their hands, including the squirrel. "And last but not least, the seven year olds?" The last third of the table, including the Siamese kitten, raised their hands. "Well...I'm supposed to watch you guys tonight." There were groans coming from the table.

"You're really boring!" the squirrel whined.

"Um...uh..." Sly was tongue tied.

"I want something to doooo!" the Siamese kitten whined. Sly suddenly had a light bulb idea.

"Why don't I try telling you guys a story?" Sly proposed. Chandler looked a little dismayed at the idea.

"All the stories they tell us are the same! Always about the good guys beating up the bad guys! They never have any stories about the bad guys beating up the good guys!" Chandler explained. The others nodded in agreement. Sly thought for a moment, trying to make his idea effective.

"Then you guys can stop me if it starts becoming something you hate. Okay?" Sly asked. The children looked at each other for a moment and then nodded to Chandler, the kitten and the squirrel, who nodded to Sly.

"We'll stop it if we hate it then," the kitten and the squirrel commented in unison. Sly cleared his throat and then began to sort out his ideas. Suddenly, one popped into his head: a story about the thief, Sly Cooper (who Sly still wasn't sure if he was actually that thief).

"You guys know of the famous raccoon thief, Sly Cooper, right?" Sly asked. Whispers burst amongst the group.

"He's the coolest!" Chandler exclaimed. "All of us have heard the adults talking about how bad they think he is!"

"We think he's awesome though!" the kitten added. "We heard he actually came to this orphanage before being a thief!" Sly smiled as he decided the kids were definitely going to like the story...He was going to make up a story for the thief that was easy enough for the children to understand, building off what information he had heard from Cody, whether he believed it or not...

"And now our story begins..." Sly started.

**(Sly begins his story...)**

Sly Cooper was running in the city of Barcelona, Spain. He had begun his search of something important he had lost after escaping the imprisonment of the orphanage and the beginning of preparation for his thieving career five years before: his police file. This file contained evidence of five criminals, who had stolen the most prized possession of an important treasure in his family of thieves: the Thievius Raccoonus. Sly was—

**(...a random interruption...)**

Chandler had burst into laughter.

"What? Do you hate my story already?" Sly asked, trying to keep a straight face.

"NO! WHAT KIND OF NAME IS—" this was cut off by Chandler's laughter for a moment. "'THIEVIUS RACCONOOS'!"

"'RaccoonUS'!" Sly corrected. "And 'raccoonus' is Latin for 'raccoon'!" Chandler stopped laughing.

"Hm...that makes sense. I mean, SLY is a raccoon...Go on."

"Anyway..."

**(Back to our feature presentation...)**

(Ahem!) Sly was going to get this book back at all costs. If it fell into the wrong hands, the world could be brought to ruin, but you see, children, when you plan a big heist, you can't just go on without any information. You'll cluelessly wonder. If you want to get ahead, you have to take small steps. Sly was taking a small step by looking for the police file.

It was a Saturday night—most adults would be in partying clubs or children would be out with their parents in malls and such, so Sly had to take the utmost caution when looking around in the police station. One false move would set all of the police on our "hero". This is why, he snuck along the rooftops, treading softly as to not make any noise.

And on he went, amongst the Spanish speakers. He managed to stay undercover in the crowd when he had to sneak into an alleyway and climbed up a ladder or pipe of some form. I will skip this part—it's much too boring...

After much prowling on the rooftops out of the watchful eyes of the crowd and inquisitive eyes of the children in the families, Sly was on the roof above the police station. At this point, he spoke into a microphone tucked neatly into his collar.

"Bentley, where is the file?" Sly asked. Sly waited for an answer from his friend, Bentley the turtle, who was back in the Cooper van watching the area around Sly for any possible threats or dangers. He was the genius of the group, specializing in computer hacking, area surveillance and being a worrywart.

"Sly, there should be a vent you can break open right ahead," Bentley replied through an earpiece that was in Sly's ear. "Are you sure you want to do this? I have a feeling this isn't the right place!"

"Even if I'm not able to find the file, at least I'll have a little fun!" Sly commented as he smirked. "I'll head to that vent now!" Sly ran along the rooftops once more and came across the vent Bentley had spoken of.

Sly's elegant cane shone in the moonlight as he broke the vent with it. He hopped down into it, avoided some laser alarms (did you expect to be none) and found himself within the premises of the office.

"The file should be in the office to your left!" Bentley pointed out.

Sly saw a blue door to his right reading "Senor Jose". He opened the door, being careful not to make the hinges on the door creak. Sly shut the door quietly behind him and found a safe.

"THE SAFE, SLY!"

Sly crept over to the safe and knelt in front of it. He waited for Bentley's usual comment whenever he had figured out the combination to any safe.

"This one was pretty easy: Try 1-9-0-4!" Sly followed the instructions and as always, the safe became unlocked. Bentley's thinking and solving never failed. At least not anytime soon for them...

The thief looked inside the safe, and to his dismay, he couldn't locate the police file he had been looking for. Although, he did find a sheet containing the location of the police file: the file was in Paris, France in another police officer's space.

Sly moved back out to the van and met up with his friends. Sly's second friend, Murray the hippo, was the driver of the group. As to his duty, Murray helped Sly escape from being caught by the police for reasons of crime from previous skirmishes.

There was one important place to go now that their business in Barcelona was done: Paris. So—

**(Dinnertime!)**

Sly was cut off when the children's dinner plates were being set in front of them, along with a pitcher of water and a pitcher of lemonade (the tables had been set with silverware previously). To Sly's surprise, the children seemed to be in a hypnotized state, ignoring the food in front of them and looking up at Sly. All of them had smiles plastered onto their faces.

"Um...you guys?" Sly asked, trying to snap the children out of their trance.

"Wow...that was an awesome story, Mr. Smith! I want you to be our story time teacher!" the squirrel exclaimed. The tone of his voice expressed awe. The others nodded in agreement.

"Yeah...you're not so bad!" the kitten added. "You're so cool! I wanna hear more of the story soon!" Chandler looked down at the floor for a moment and then looked up at "Daniel" with sad eyes.

"I'm sorry I was such a meanie earlier, Mr. Smith," Chandler apologized.

"That's okay. Apology accepted," Sly replied to Chandler. "I guess you guys aren't so bad either. Say...what are your names?" Everyone said their name once. Sly found out the kitten's name was Charlotte and the squirrel's name was Mike.

"Hey, Mr. Smith, what's your other name?" Mike asked.

"Daniel. You guys can call me Dan or Danny if you want..." Sly trailed off. The children nodded happily as they began eating their meal.

The rest of the night went much smoothly, though even after trying to tell the story of Sly Cooper, no memories appeared in his mind. Once more, everything was blank. The slate in Sly's mind was empty, void of anything.

Now the real challenge would come the next day...

**(Random notes if you wish to bother!)**

Hello, fellow Sly Cooper fans! Thank you guys (and girls) a bunch for making me feel so welcome here! I always get nervous whenever I write in a new section for , but you guys (and girls) have been so welcoming so far!

I apologize if you were peeved at the length of the chapter—I promise I'll try making the next chapter shorter!

Anyway, thanks y'all!

Shady Fetish


	4. Chapter Three: The Real Work Begins

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Sly Cooper or any characters or any stuff associated with this game. All that belongs to Sucker Punch and Sony, after all, I am just a mere fangirl writing a fanfic! Note: I don't own ANY copyrighted content except the fictional characters I made up for this (namely, the villains and other nameless folks).

Quickie note: Yes, Noalyn, Carmelita will be in this...And I'll try keeping her as IC as possible...

**[Chapter Three: The Real Work Begins]**

The night before, Sly had found another bag on his bed. There was a small slip of paper attached, which he took and read its scribble-like handwriting:

_**[Dear Sly,**_

_**There is a week's worth of clothing in here, including pajamas and a pair of sneakers. Hopefully they'll be your size.**_

_**Good luck with your job at the orphanage.**_

_**--The doctor]**_

**(Clueless Cody...)**

Sly woke up after a surprisingly good night's sleep, despite the stiff mattress and noise from animals walking around on the floor above. He stubbornly sat up, rubbing his eyes gently as he glanced at the clock on the table across from him.

7:30 AM in all its bright, red glory...A half an hour before Sly was supposed to head down to the kitchen for his orders for breakfast. Sly lay back down in his bed. He was about to try to close his eyes for five more minutes, except there was a knock on the door.

"Daniel, are you up yet?" Yup. Just as Sly suspected: Cody.

"Um...yeah. Kind of," Sly replied. He covered his mouth, yawning and then sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Well, get ready and meet me in the lobby. Gertrude will hand off your schedule to you there!" Cody ordered as Sly could hear his footsteps going further and further away.

Sly stood up and stretched, then rummaged in the plastic bag for a new set of clothes. After quickly changing and managing his fur, Sly rushed out of the room, quickly going in the direction to the lobby as instructed. Ignoring the creaky floor and stairs, he practically sprinted down to the "lobby".

Sly nearly stumbled and fell over as he came to a skidding stop in front of Gertrude's desk.

"Oh, Mr. Smith, it's you...Just hold on a minute while I pull your schedule out," the owl secretary instructed. She looked through a stack of papers on her desk until she pulled a certain one out. "There we are!" Sly practically grabbed the sheet of paper from her.

"Thank you, Ms. Deuducle!" Sly said as he scanned the sheet. He smiled bleakly when he saw the first thing he had on the list.

_'Looks like I'll be able to continue the story from yesterday...but what will I come up with today?' _Sly thought. He was hoping he wouldn't have a creativity block. At least not until after looking after the five through seven year olds.

"Watching the littler ones again, eh?" Sly turned around and saw Cody had been reading over his shoulder. "And look! I hope you have a good story in mind for them at story time today too!"

Sly felt like the color had drained out of his fur. His ears went down. That was two sessions he couldn't have a creativity block in.

"So, Daniel, what are you going to tell them for a story?" Cody asked in a joking tone. Cody didn't notice Sly was fuming as the two of them headed down to the dining room area.

"Actually," Sly started, smirking and breaking out of his annoyed state, "the kids were cool once I got them to calm down a bit!"

"Really?" Cody seemed surprised as his ears perked up. "How did you manage to calm them down, Daniel? They seemed pretty hyper yesterday!"

"Well...I have my ways." There was NO way Sly was going to tell Cody about the story he had started yesterday. No one would really want to know that he had been telling a story to the children about a thief that they all seemed to hate and despise.

"How mysterious." Cody rolled his eyes. "And next you're going to tell me you're some Master Thief named Sly Cooper!" Sly nearly froze for a moment, but then Cody instantly burst into laughter. "Just kidding!" The naïve calico cat didn't realize Sly was fuming once more.

_'The thief Sly can't be all that bad!' _Sly thought angrily as Cody opened the dining room door and entered it. Sly followed suit and found the children already at their tables, sitting and waiting for their breakfast, like the night before.

The raccoon quickly rushed over to the five through seven year old table and saw the kids sitting patiently waiting for another story.

"YAY! It's Danny!" Chandler cheered. The others also cheered softly as they sat expectantly, waiting for Sly to begin.

"Looks like you guys are excited, eh?" Sly asked. The others quickly nodded. "Well, I...I'll try fitting in more of the story here and then I'll continue during my story time session with you guys." There were excited whispers amongst the group.

"We have you for story time, Dan?" Mike asked. The children were smiling.

"It's gonna be so cool today!" Charlotte exclaimed. "C'mon! Start the story for today! Where they were going to Paris! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE?!"

"All right..."

**(Where he left off before...)**

Sly and the crew had just left Barcelona and were currently on their way to Paris, France, to go into the police office that contained Sly's police file—the key to the next step.

Now, kids, before I go any further, there was a police officer that Sly had escaped from being captured by back in a city previous to Barcelona: Carmelita Montoya Fox. She had been chasing Sly since she had first joined the police force. Almost every other city Sly had attended to some business in, there Carmelita was, on his tail.

Anyway, Murray had driven the van and parked in an alleyway. On one of the brick walls, there was a pipe—Sly scurried up it to an edge on the building. While Murray had moved the van, Sly made his way to the rooftop, slowing pacing along the ledge about the windows. He then quickly jumped off and landed right on the rooftop of Le Police: the exact police station that Sly was going to take his file from...

**(Cut off!)**

Sly was cut short when breakfast was served. The children, satisfied with their dose of the story, turned to their meals, chatting amongst themselves on what they thought would happen next in the story. Sly sat down himself and ate quietly.

It was a strange feeling and it seemed like it came out of nowhere: Carmelita Montoya Fox.

Sly thought for a moment as he thought deeper and deeper into his own head. Carmelita Fox. Where had he heard that name before? Had he just made it up because he couldn't think of anything else or had he really met a Carmelita?

"Hey, Dan, you okay?" Charlotte asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired," Sly lied. Charlotte shrugged and went back to her meal. The rest of the meal was eventless...

**(The first sighting of the vixen...)**

The vixen police officer quickly rushed into the hospital. Her shoes tapped on the tile floor and she stalked up to the front desk, her tail twitching in annoyance and her ears down. She couldn't believe no one had told her where he was earlier. They knew she was on the Cooper case. They knew she had been chasing him for the last three years.

"Excuse me; is there a Sly Cooper here?" she asked the secretary at the front desk.

"Oh...no, no Sly Cooper here," the secretary answered nervously. Before she knew it, the vixen pounded her fist on the counter.

"WHAT?! But the police said he was supposed to be here!" the vixen yelled. Passer-bys and other animals waiting to see their loved ones stared at the enraged vixen. The vixen's tail moved back and forth, matching her angry mood.

"The police? You're with the police?" The vixen calmed down.

"Yes, I am. I'm Detective Carmelita Fox and I was told to come here to question Mr. Cooper about the theft at the bank and then arrest him for previous criminal actions." The secretary paused for a moment, thinking about how not to upset the detective.

"Would you like to speak to his doctor?" the secretary demanded. "He should be on his break right about now..."

"Where is he?"

"Hold on a moment..." The secretary tapped in a number on a phone in front of her. "Excuse me, is Dr. Luke Black in the cafeteria right now?...Oh, he is? How convenient! Thank you!" The secretary hung up the phone and looked up at Carmelita.

"I assume he's in the cafeteria then?" The secretary quickly nodded.

"It's on the second floor, two doors down to your right." Carmelita nodded in gratitude and rushed up the floors via elevator and followed the directions the secretary had given her.

Suddenly, it struck the vixen. The secretary had never told her which one was Sly's doctor...There was only one thing she could do...she had caught the name, right? Yes, Dr. Luke Black...Carmelita pulled herself up on top of one of the abandoned cafeteria tables.

**(The horror of arts and crafts...)**

Sly checked his schedule again to see what his next session was...[Arts and crafts: two through four year olds]

"Oh, looks like you have that too—little assistant!" There was Cody, sticking by Sly's side. "I'll show the way to the craft room..." As Cody guided Sly, it just occurred to the raccoon how confusing the orphanage was set up. It all seemed to appear the same, no matter which way you were going.

"Is this session too hard?" Cody shook his head as he suddenly opened a door to their left. This led to a room with four tables, a metal cabinet off to the side and a box full of smocks and stools.

"Welcome to your first off-meal session!" Cody grinned. "This is one of my favorite sessions...it...reminds me too much of the cub I let down though..." Instead of Cody's ears going down, Sly's went down in the guiltiest way. Before Sly could try consoling his fellow worker, a group of thirty children entered the room and quickly rushed over to their seats and awaited orders from Cody.

"Hello, kids. Before we go on to our class today, I'd like you all to meet Danny here," Cody greeted. All eyes were on Sly for a moment, then a couple of whispers took a wave throughout the group.

"He looks like Sly Cooper," a four year old lamb commented. A couple other four year olds and a two year old all at the same table nodded in agreement. Sly made sure he didn't make any faces or suspicious movements, otherwise his cover would be blown.

"Now kids, just because he's a raccoon doesn't make him that THIEF," Cody pointed out.

"Why doesn't he talk?" a three year old demanded. The two year olds were silent, as their vocabulary couldn't really express what they wanted to say, except Sly knew they were agreeing with every word.

"Because I'm not really the teacher," Sly muttered low enough for only himself to hear. He couldn't believe that the youngest kids had figured out who he resembled, yet the older kids didn't pick up any clues...He knew this session was going to be torture...

**(Dr. Luke Black...)**

"Excuse me, is there a Dr. Luke Black here? Dr. Luke Black? I have some questions to ask him!" Carmelita shouted. All of the doctors who had been enjoying their meal looked up at her and gave her strange looks. "Please, folks, I need your cooperation! I'm with the police!" A Siberian tiger stood up and darted his narrow eyes towards her.

"I'm Luke Black!" the tiger announced as Carmelita got down from the table. "And you would be...?"

"I'm Detective Carmelita Fox. I'm here to ask you a couple questions about a Mr. Sly Cooper's stay here."

"Sly Cooper?" The doctor sat down at the empty cafeteria table. He looked over both his shoulders to make sure the rest of the workers were back to their meals. Carmelita sat down as he was doing this. "Sly Cooper is off elsewhere right now." Luke had lowered the volume of his voice to a low, bass whisper.

"Where is he?" Carmelita had taken to the same volume Luke had.

"I can't tell you."

"WHY NOT?" Carmelita pounded her fist on the table, but no one else had seemed to notice.

"Because it wouldn't be fair to him."

"Are you just covering up just so he can go steal more stuff?"

"No...he was injured on the night of the robbery." Carmelita's eyes widened. "He has amnesia. Last time I checked, he still hasn't remembered anything." Carmelita looked at the tiled floor in guilt. She was now regretting the tone of voice she had spoken to the secretary in.

"So...he's safe somewhere else?"

"That's right."

"Can you tell me where? I won't arrest him until he remembers everything...I just want to ask him a couple things."

"Well...you seem trustworthy, detective...All right. I sent Sly over to Happy Campers Orphanage over in Lauderville. He's working there under the alias Daniel Smith." Carmelita cocked what would be an eyebrow and gave the doctor a weird look.

"Sly? With KIDS?"

"I actually received a call from one of my friends who works there. He says he's actually quite good with the kids. They seem to enjoy being around him." Carmelita looked even more surprised than before and suddenly burst into laughter. "Um...is there anything wrong?"

Carmelita stopped laughing and wiped a tear from her eye. "Sorry, doctor, it's just that I can't imagine Cooper being around KIDS!" Luke nodded and checked the watch that was on his wrist, then stood up.

"My break is over."

"Thank you!" Carmelita left the cafeteria and made her plans—off to Lauderville she was going.

**(Relief at last...)**

"Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" Cody asked, trying to cheer Sly up.

"Well, if you think being called 'thief', 'meanie' and 'the Cooper' for two hours okay, than I guess it wasn't so bad," Sly said sarcastically.

"Sorry about that. I'll try calming the kids down at lunch...Say, what do you have next?" Sly pulled the sheet of paper out of his pocket and inspected it, smiling gently as a wave of relief washed through him.

"Story time with the five through seven year olds!"

"That means you'll have to go to the first classroom," Cody pointed out. "We usually use it for the eight through ten year olds for their education during the fall and winter, but we use it as the story time room in the summer." Cody paused for a moment, concentrating on the path ahead. "You sound awfully excited, Daniel."

"Well...it's a break compared to the other class." Sly was then silent. He was leaving out all the details. Cody had attempted a couple more times to try and spark a conversation, but Sly was too busy cooking up ideas for the next section of the story...

"Here we are, Daniel!"

Cody opened a door to a room that contained things a classroom would normally have: a chalkboard and a desk at one end of the classroom, a file cabinet and a bookshelf lined along the wall, cubbies and desks set up in "pods". Instead of the usual creaky floor, this room had a blue carpet.

Cody waited for an answer from Sly, but then he shrugged. "I'll leave you to it then!"

Sly heard him walk out of the room as he heard the familiar sounds of the five through seven years olds proceeding down the hallway behind him. Before they entered the room, Sly quickly dashed over right next to the desk. It was in the knick of time as well, as the children entered the room, sounding very excited as they chatted amongst themselves and sat down in the pods.

As soon as the chaperone who had taken them to the room had left, the children quieted down.

"So where did I leave off, you guys?" Sly asked, trying to mentally recap.

"You told us about Carmelita, the officer," Chandler started.

"And then you had Sly go on top of the Le Police thingy and then that's where you ended," Mike added. Sly nodded.

"So we were right before the story would begin to pick up, eh?" Sly asked, grinning. "Let's see how far we can get within two hours!" Sly cleared his throat and looked at everyone in the class with a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

**(His two worlds collide...)**

"Murray, I can't believe you got us delayed for over an HOUR!" a turtle complained as Murray pulled into the gravel driveway of the orphanage in the gang's van.

"I couldn't help but stop at that hot dog stand, Bentley! I was hungry and then all those...animals challenged me to a race!" a purple hippo, Murray, pointed out as he parked the van and turned the ignition off.

"Remember, Murray, while we are here, we call Sly 'Daniel' or 'Dan', not 'Sly' or 'Cooper'!" the turtle called Bentley exclaimed as the two of them unbuckled and got out of the van, slamming the doors shut behind them.

"I'll let you do the talking," Murray muttered as they walked through the front door and headed towards a desk with an owl secretary sitting behind it.

"Can I help you two?" the owl asked, yawning and looking up at the two friends with rather excited eyes. There was silence for a moment, but then Murray nudged Bentley (or more like Murray tried nudging Bentley, but due to height difference, he accidentally hit Bentley in the head).

"Is there a Daniel Smith here?" Bentley asked.

"Oh? Are you friends of Mr. Smith?" the owl asked. Bentley and Murray quickly nodded. "He's in a session right now, but I could go get him and replace him with someone else to cover him."

"This is an emergency!" Bentley said. "We need Mr. Smith right now!" The owl stood up and walked away from the desk.

"Wait here. I'll come back with him," the owl commented as she walked away.

"I still can't believe he accepted to work here...that is out of character for him..." Bentley trailed off. Murray nodded in agreement.

Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes seemed to turn into hours as the two of them waited for the secretary to return with their thief friend, Sly. The clock on the wall ticked on, bringing closer the impending reunion. Bentley and Murray were both clearly nervous with their plan to bring Sly back into the group quietly.

"Here we are, Mr. Smith." The secretary had come back with a familiar raccoon. The owl sat back down behind her desk as Sly stared back at the two pals with suspicious light brown eyes. His ears were raised and alert and his tail twitching

"Um...We're friends of Luke," Murray whispered. Sly's ears went down in relief, slightly.

"We have something you might want to see something outside," Bentley commented as he yanked Sly by the wrist and made Sly follow him into the van. Murray had quickly followed as fast as he could and shut all the windows and the van doors behind him.

"Who are you?" Sly demanded. Bentley shook his head. Murray remained silent in his own corner.

"Sly, don't you recognize us?"


	5. Chapter Four: Thievius Raccoonus No More

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Sly Cooper or any characters or any stuff associated with this game. All that belongs to Sucker Punch and Sony, after all, I am just a mere fangirl writing a fanfic! Note: I don't own ANY copyrighted content except the fictional characters I made up for this (namely, the villains and other nameless folks).

**[Chapter Four: Thievius Raccoonus No More]**

From the dark space of her office, Madam Teresa was speaking on her cell phone with a "resource" of hers. She was trying to listen through the static to pick up what they were saying. The reception was absolutely dreadful where she was, but then again, cell phone reception outside the city was horrible anyway.

"Salvador, what are my orders for tonight?" Teresa demanded. "You know, from the boss?"

"He says keep close surveillance on this Daniel Smith guy. He believes you might be on to something!" said the resource called Salvador.

"Well...all right...I have to say, something seems off though...It's like he's missing something Sly Cooper had...That enigma..." Teresa trailed off, blinking her ringed eyes.

"Salvador over and out!" Both of them disconnected from each other and turned off their cell phones.

Madam Teresa stood up and shoved the cell phone into her desk, locking the drawer up. She brushed some dust off her floor length skirt and ran a hand through her graying brown hair that draped on her shoulders. Adjusting her glasses, she proceeded towards the entryway door that led down the stairs.

It was inspection time.

**(Thievius Raccoonus...)**

There was awkward silence between Sly, Bentley and Murray. All of them blinked at each other, not knowing what to say. Sly was still dumbfounded, not able to piece everything correctly.

"Don't you recognize us, Sly?" Bentley repeated.

"I...I don't think so." Sly stood up and backed away. He casually reached towards the handle of the van door, gripping it tightly, preparing to open it and run just in case of emergency.

Bentley gazed at Sly for a moment, as if he was thinking.

"What have they done to you anyway? It's like they taught you to deny your thieving privileges when you were in that hospital!" Bentley yelped. "They made practically made you a FATHER!"

"Do you even know about what happens in that orphanage and how the adults treat them?" Sly demanded. "They're alone! Just like I was in that hospital! I had NOBODY there for me, like they had nobody there for THEM! They need me just like I need them!"

"It's a fact, Sly! You are a master thief! You don't belong there at the orphanage! You belong with us—your two best friends, Bentley and Murray!" Bentley pointed out.

"What about the children? They need help!"

"Sly has a point, Bentley," Murray agreed.

"Yes, perhaps they do, but you have to move on, Sly! Yes, there are a few things they could fix up about this place, but this orphanage isn't your place! I know I said once that I wish you'd stop thieving, but this is taking it too far!" Bentley exclaimed. "Don't you want to track down master criminals?" Sly's eyes narrowed.

"What about—"

"We know, the kids! But things have been turned upside-down ever since you left Paris, Sly! The police have gone nuts and Carmelita's gone AWOL! You have to come back!" Bentley begged. "And—and don't forget this!" Bentley handed Sly a leather-like hardbound book. There was a blue and white symbol shaped like a raccoon's head (or at least it was attempting it). Above it, there was glorious golden writing that read:

"Thievius Raccoonus..." Sly read aloud.

"It was the book you should've gotten from your father, remember?" Sly shook his head. "Don't you want to do the Cooper Clan justice?" Sly shook his head once more.

"If Sly Cooper is just a heartless thief, then I don't want to be him no more!" Sly yelled as he threw the book against the wall of the van, just barely missing Murray. Parchment-like pages fell out of the book, causing a hail of paper. Murray's eyes were big with shock and Bentley was just as shocked, except he was trying to make an effort to pick up the pages.

Sly took his chance and quickly exited the van angrily, going back to the orphanage to take Daniel Smith's place.

**(Out of character...)**

"The frog prince then entrusted the noble knight to—"

Cody heard a knock on the door. He was interrupted and cut off from the story he had been telling the class he had been summoned to. Normally, this time would be his break, but the regular attendant had been pulled out of class. Now, he was to tell a story to the five through seven year olds until the attendant, Daniel Smith, returned.

"Open up, Smith! This is the Mistress!" Cody heard Madam Teresa demand from the door. He quickly gave a sign to the children to remain silent as he turned the knob of the door and pulled it open.

"Hello, Madam," Cody greeted as he beckoned her in. Instead of following Cody, Madam's eyes darted around the room as if she knew something were missing. She rolled her eyes and narrowed them as cleared her throat.

"Where's Mr. Smith?" Teresa asked, trying to keep her voice calm. The last thing she needed was to give the runts another reason to call her names behind her back.

"Apparently he had to leave because of an emergency." Cody sounded rather annoyed, Madam Teresa noticed. Cody probably thought Daniel would be more reliable than this.

"How interesting... Well, since Mr. Smith is not here, I'm going to track him down. You might as well continue where you were then." Madam Teresa disappeared through the door. As soon as Cody saw the headmistress's ringed-tail disappear around the corner, he looked back at the students, who were all looking up at him nervously.

"Is Danny gonna be okay?" Charlotte asked. Cody shook his head.

"The least that'll happen is that he'll get yelled at courtesy of the headmistress. Let's hope it just stays at that," Cody answered. "Now where were we in the story?"

All of the kids looked at each other. Even though Cody didn't really seem to notice or care, his story had bored them all to death. They wanted to hear about the adventures of their favorite raccoon/master thief once more, not this pathetic excuse of a story about a frog prince that couldn't do anything by himself!

"Can anyone remember?" Cody smirked. They didn't think he did, but he knew that they were bored and weren't exactly paying attention.

"Nope," the children chorused, shaking their heads.

"Then how about I start from the beginning again?" Cody suggested. There were shouts of "NO" throughout the former classroom. "What do you suggest then?" The children looked at each other, trying to come up with ideas.

"Um...how about something on a cop trying to catch a thief...animal...thingy?" Chandler asked. He got a few glares from the other students. "That isn't Sly Cooper!" Chandler quickly added in a sarcastic tone. The students groaned as Cody mentally snapped.

"Why would you want to hear something about that LOW DOWN SCUM?" Cody pounded his fist down on the desk at the front of the room. Narrowing his eyes, he took a deep breath as the students shuddered.

"Mr. Bryan..." Mike was shivering as he trailed off.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Bryan. I didn't know..." Chandler said quietly. Cody had his back turned to the kids, hoping Daniel would be back soon.

**(Last five minutes...)**

Sly stayed off to the side of the door, remaining out of sight. He had just snuck into the corner between the wall and the door right after Madame Teresa had left the room and down the hallway to the left.

He had just heard the whole conversation between Cody and the five through seven year olds. The way Cody had made a reference to the thief without actually saying his name...Sly found his ears were down as low as possible now. He had never heard the calico so loud before.

Sly pushed his ear against the cold door.

"WELL, OF COURSE YOU DIDN'T KNOW! DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT SLY COOPER?" Cody's voice was at maximum volume.

The raccoon shook his head. _'I have to end this before it gets any worse,' _Sly thought as he slowly opened the door and poked his head in.

"I'm back," Sly said as he entered the room closing the door behind him. Everyone's heads turned toward him. Some of them were distraught, some were relieved. Cody glanced at Sly as if he was about to pounce on him at any minute.

"We'll talk later, Dan," Cody whispered to Sly as he left the room. The door was closed as Sly went back to the front of the room.

"Danny, what's wrong with Mr. Bryan?" Charlotte asked in concern. Sly heard her sniff, almost as if she was about to cry.

"I don't know...I think I'll put a hold on the story with Sly though...What do you want to do right now with the five minutes we have left before we go outside?" Sly questioned.

"Can we just talk, Danny?" Chandler asked. Sly nodded. The children started chatting amongst themselves as Sly heaved a sigh. So far the day had been rough on him and now he was hoping things would look up.

Five minutes later, the bell rung.

"Let's go out!" Sly ordered.

**(When she saw Daniel Smith, she thought she saw a lie...)**

Carmelita pulled into the driveway as she spotted something she thought she never would at this place.

"The Cooper's van? What are his friends doing here?" Carmelita wondered as she parked the car and got out. She walked up the gray driveway and opened the door. The inside of the building surprised her, as she expected the room to be sickly peppy looking. This was the complete opposite.

"Excuse me, may I help you?" Ms. Deuducle asked.

"Is there a Daniel Smith here?" Carmelita calmly asked.

"You too? There was this turtle with this hippo looking for him earlier too...If you would follow me please!" Ms. Deuducle stood up and began walking down a hallway farther back. Carmelita quickly followed, wondering what could lurk in the corridor.

Making a right turn, Ms. Deuducle unlocked a door.

"This is the way to the backyard. Mr. Smith should be here right now," Ms. Deuducle explained as she opened the door and led Carmelita outside. The two of them scoped out the area and found Sly sitting on the edge of the sandbox with Charlotte (or at least Ms. Deuducle recognized her as Charlotte) crying in his lap with her head buried into his shoulder. Sly seemed to be trying to comfort her, stroking through her hair and patting her back.

"Aw, that's cute," Carmelita couldn't help saying out loud. She had never seen Sly this way before.

"Yeah, Mr. Smith's gotten good reports on how he treats the kids, from what I've heard from Mr. Bryan..." Ms. Deuducle trailed off. "Why don't you go say hello to him?" Carmelita shook her head.

"He looks a bit busy. I'll wait a minute...Maybe you better go back to your desk." Ms. Deuducle shook her head.

"Nonsense. It's not like anything really happens there anyway!"

"No really. You should..." Ms. Deuducle and Carmelita began arguing amongst themselves...

**(Getting over our fears...)**

"Danny!" Charlotte cried. "I don't wanna be near Mr. Bryan anymore! He's scary!" The shoulder on Sly's shirt was becoming moist with her tears. Sly was trying to make everything right once more, but it didn't seem like it was going to happen soon. Charlotte in particular had been frightened of the sudden outburst of their substitute.

"He won't be scary tomorrow, Char...he was just unhappy today," Sly tried reassuring her.

"I don't wanna see him!" Charlotte bawled some more, then pulled back for a moment and wiped her nose.

"C'mon, he can't be that scary," Sly said, trying to coax the kitten to calm down and go say hello to him. "See, he's right over there!" Sly gently turned Charlotte around and pointed towards the other side of the backyard, where Cody was leaning against the wooden fence with his arms crossed. "He's calmed down, see? Why don't we go talk to him?"

Before Charlotte could refuse, Sly picked her off his lap and made her follow him over to Cody. Before looking up to speak to Cody, Sly held Charlotte's hand to prevent her from running off. Sly glanced down at Charlotte one more time, seeing she faked a smile and waved. The raccoon looked back up at Cody again.

"How you doing, Cody?" Sly greeted. Cody uncrossed his arms and gazed meekly at Sly.

"I guess I'm doing fine," Cody muttered.

"Charlotte here has something to say to you, Cody!" Sly quickly exclaimed. Cody knelt down in front of Charlotte on one knee and looked at her with cold eyes and a patient expression. They were making Charlotte shake just looking at them. She bit her lip and gulped.

"Um...uh...H-Hi, M-Mr. B-Bryan," Charlotte stuttered. Cody warmly smiled, welcoming the greeting as he waved at Charlotte.

"Hello to you too, Charlotte," Cody greeted back. He pushed himself up and went back to leaning against the wall. "Nice talking to you!" Sly followed Charlotte back over to the sandbox. The kitten had started running back as fast as she could and sat back down on the edge of the sandbox.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Sly asked as Charlotte looked up at him in a state of cherubic proportions.

"I guess it was okay," Charlotte answered, wiping around her eyes and nose. "I think I'll go hang out with Chandler and Mike now!" She paused for a moment before running off. "Thank you, Danny!"

"No problem!" Sly smiled as he saw Charlotte go give Chandler and Mike a high five each.

_'I think I'm going to like being Daniel Smith,' _Sly thought happily as he sat back down on the edge of the sandbox. He was facing the children and his feet were planted in the sand.

Suddenly, someone poked his shoulder. Sly turned around and saw the most gorgeous vixen he had ever seen (that he could remember) looking down at him. Her raven hair was pulled back into a long braid, opening up her face to his delight. She had a small, golden ring looped in one of her ears and she wore a brown jacket with a dark blue ensemble.

"Are you Daniel Smith?" she asked. Sly grinned like an idiot and cleared his throat.

"Yeah, I am. Who would you be?" Sly questioned. She had a small, petite smile on her face.

"I'm Inspector—" Sly bolted up and was at eye level with her.

"Carmelita!" Carmelita's eyes widened. Did he recognize her? She checked over her shoulder and whispered as quietly as possible into his ear.

"Sly Cooper?"

**(Just a little comment! That's all! Really!)**

Author's notes: If you ask me, that wasn't one of my better chapters, but maybe it's just me...Okay, that really didn't make sense, did it? Anyway, thanks for reading! I have no other comments!


	6. Chapter Five: The Jig Is Up

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Sly Cooper or any characters or any stuff associated with this game. All that belongs to Sucker Punch and Sony, after all, I am just a mere fangirl writing a fanfic! Note: I don't own ANY copyrighted content except the fictional characters I made up for this (namely, the villains and other nameless folks).

**(Chapter Five: The Jig Is Up)**

"Sly Cooper?" The name fell off Carmelita's tongue like sweet honey as she whispered it to him. "That's your name, isn't it?" Carmelita added in an even lower whisper. Sly quickly nodded. "We might have a lot to catch up on, including Clo—"

"If we're going to talk about that kind of stuff having to do with...Cooper, it shouldn't be here," Sly whispered back. Carmelita nodded in agreement. "Let's go when they're not looking then!"

Carmelita was being led by Sly. She couldn't believe this was even happening. Of all the people to escort her out of a public area, it just HAD to be her precious Cooper.

_'No! Your **rival**!'_ A voice inside Carmelita's head snapped. _'You're just here to question him and see if he remembers ANYTHING! No more, no less.' _

The vixen couldn't help but notice though. It wasn't very often she actually got to talk to Sly one-on-one without it being an accusation of certain crimes. Carmelita couldn't help but notice how unusually attractive (and helpless) Sly looked when he wasn't in his thief garb. The green sweater he was wearing brought out the brown in his eyes. Those eyes...those mesmerizing eyes...whenever she saw them, she fell into a dreamlike state...just thinking about them...

_'SNAP OUT OF IT, YOU IDIOT!' _Carmelita mentally slapped herself. She had to stop this. She didn't care how many times she had to repeat it to herself—she was just here on business for questioning. She was here as a detective and an inspector, not as a single woman looking for a husband. _'I hope I can say something to him about Clockwerk soon, that way I can stop thinking about **him**.' _

"Here we are!" Sly announced.

Before Carmelita knew it, he opened up the door into his small room. The vixen paused for a moment, pondering whether this was a good idea or not.

"Come on! I can't wait here all day!"

Carmelita shrugged. Why not? It's not like she'd let anything inappropriate happen. Just questioning, it was. Nothing to worry about...Something just occurred to her: if Sly didn't really remember anything, she was going to have a hard time asking him about anything. Carmelita stepped into the room as Sly quickly shut it and locked it tight.

"You want to sit down?" Sly asked. Carmelita shook her head.

"I'm just fine. I need to stretch my legs after that long car ride..." Carmelita paused for a moment as Sly took a seat on the edge of the bed. "Sly, I have a few questions I have to ask you," Carmelita explained.

"Hmph! Ask away!" Sly answered. "I doubt I'll be any help!" Carmelita sighed as she pulled a strand of hair out of her face and pulled out a tape recorder. She quickly switched it on and set it on "record".

"Witness's name: S—Daniel Smith. Daniel, were you at the Smith Bank on the night of July 20th?" Carmelita held the speaker end of the tape recorder not too far off from Sly's mouth.

"I...I don't know. It's all a blur," Sly replied. His ears were down. Carmelita frowned, shutting off the recorder and placing it back in her pocket where it had first come from.

"You really can't remember anything, can you?" Sly shook his head.

"I don't know who to trust anymore. Everyone I knew disappeared before my eyes and if they were still there in front of me, I wouldn't know. I'm blinded now. I can't see anything." Sly sighed. He was leaning into his paws. "Carmelita...you're the only one I can see."

"When did you first remember me, Sly?"

Sly went on to tell her about the segment of the story with the five through seven year olds where he had first introduced her. He was careful to add how the name had just seemed to drift into his mind at no warning whatsoever. Carmelita seemed to actually be quite surprised that she was the first one he'd remembered.

"Sly..." There she went again. She was zoning out. The unwanted feeling was swallowing her up and memories of that kiss back in Russia filled her mind.

"Carmelita..." Sly stood up from his seat and pulled Carmelita's paw into his own. The two of them stared, eyes blinking at each other. Sly didn't know what this feeling was, but it felt familiar...

**_[A ten second head start...that's what she gave me. Instead of running though...I kissed her and cuffed her by her own cuffs with the railing right next to her...Was it something I had always wanted to do though? And why would she give me a ten second head start though? What happened before that?_** ****

The inspector suddenly seemed shook up as she realized she was leaning in towards Sly. She shook her head and let go of his hand. This was all wrong. She knew she wasn't supposed to do things like this on official police business.

"Sorry, Sly! I better go!" Carmelita quickly dashed towards the door and undid the lock in it. Before Sly could stop her, her footsteps grew further and further away.

After trying to think for a few moments, Sly gave up and headed downstairs. He had to get back to work.

**(Carmelita's worries...)**

Madam Teresa took a peek through the door to the backyard. There was still no sign of "Mr. Smith". She had been looking around for the last forty five minutes, enraged that he had evaded her so many times. No worker at the orphanage had been so successful in staying out of her way. Usually, she could easily pin down anyone in an instant, but this was quite different.

"I can't believe I almost did that to Sly..."

Madam Teresa pivoted on her foot and saw a vixen stalking down the hallway. Her boots clunked on the wooden floor as she passed quickly. Madam Teresa smirked and started following the vixen, being as quiet as possible as not to be caught.

"I hope Cooper's not mad at me for what happened..." the vixen mumbled. Madam Teresa was grinning. She had just found out important information. Now THIS was worth reporting to the boss about.

Madam pulled out a tape recorder that was in her pocket and began recording.

"It must be hard for Sly right now...he can't remember the Cooper name...He can't remember his thieving days...I hope he does...Police work is boring without chasing him...Ever since he forgot everything, it's like he's not Sly Cooper anymore, just this Daniel Smith everyone thinks he is..."

Satisfied with her work, Madam stopped recording and retreated over behind a corner. Shutting off the recorder, she slipped it into her pocket...This new secret more than made up for "Daniel's" absence. Now if she was lucky enough, she could round him off in the backyard...

**(A dream explained...)**

Sly made his way back to the backyard. Ms. Deuducle had gone back to her desk in the lobby, Sly noticed. Nothing much else had seemed to happen while he was gone. Come to think of it, no one had seemed to notice that he had disappeared and if they did, they didn't seem too worried.

"Hey, Daniel! Can we talk now?" Cody demanded when Sly joined him at the fence. Not wanting to hear him yell again, Sly quickly nodded.

"What's wrong?" Sly asked. Cody shook his head.

"You know, I thought of Sly Cooper again...Last night, I had this dream. He was sitting on my lap, just like in the old days when I first worked at the orphanage and Sly had temporarily lost his ability to speak [from the trauma of watching his father die]. We were sitting right on the edge of the sandbox, like you and Charlotte were. Suddenly, he was gone before my eyes," Cody explained.

"Did anything else happen after that?"

"Yes. Instead, I was left with nothing. When I looked up, I saw him running. He was running from everything—his friends, the police—just about anything you can name...As soon as he stopped running, he fell over and gave up, dying right there after realizing how meaningless his life was. ...that's why I yelled earlier...I didn't know what to think when the children mentioned him earlier...I don't want them to be like him."

Sly nodded thoughtfully as he was taking this all in.

"They won't, Cody. You just have to teach them right from wrong." Sly's ears went down as Cody glanced over at the raccoon.

"What's wrong, Dan?" Sly shook his head, but his ears wouldn't go back up. It was as if he was so depressed today that they were stuck that way.

"It's nothing." Cody placed a hand on Sly's shoulder.

"It doesn't look like nothing..." Cody trailed off. He wore a bleak smile as he sighed. "You can tell me anything, you know?" Sly shrugged Cody's hand off.

"Maybe I don't want to tell you..." Before Cody could say anymore, Sly walked away...

**(A confrontation...)**

Madam Teresa opened up the door to the backyard. And there was her target, after so long. She had a lot to say to him. There he was, innocently walking away from Mr. Bryan: Sly Cooper. Teresa was going to ask him about the Clockwerk parts, but first, she had to take him inside...

Madam walked up to Sly and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Why, hello, Mr. Smith. I haven't seen you all day!" Madam Teresa greeted. Sly turned around and didn't like what he was seeing. The expression on Madam's face seemed like something bad would happen to him.

"Nice to see you too, Madam," Sly greeted back. He was trying to remain cool and laid back.

"Why don't we have a meeting up in my office?" Before Sly could even run, she grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the hallway. She stopped, right in the middle of the corridor and pinned Sly against the wall as hard as she could. "The jig is up! I know who you REALLY are, COOPER!"

"PROVE IT!" Sly was struggling to get out of her grip, but for Madam's age, she was surprisingly strong. The pressure on his shoulders was getting tighter and tighter with each passing moment. It was almost painful.

Releasing one paw from Sly's shoulder, the stinging pain went away as the headmistress pulled the tape recorder out of her pocket. She promptly pressed the play button and to Sly's horror, Madam HAD found proof...and it was from someone he thought he could trust...

_"It must be hard for Sly right now...he can't remember the Cooper name...He can't remember his thieving days...I hope he does...Police work is boring without chasing him...Ever since he forgot everything, it's like he's not Sly Cooper anymore, just this Daniel Smith everyone thinks he is..." _

"No...how could she do that to me?" Sly's brows furrowed, making him glare down at the floor. Madam was about to correct him, but them she kept her mouth shut. Teresa was having too much fun torturing him. "WHY DID SHE DO IT?"

"Oh...if only you knew, Sly. I paid her a meager lump sum if she would answer the question for me. It surprised me how greedy she is!" Madam lied. She smirked, placing the tape recorder back in her pocket and pressing Sly even harder against the rock solid wall.

"Why would you care who I am?"

"Well, my friends and I are looking for some certain parts...Specifically, the parts to the mechanical owl, Clockwerk. And when we heard you took him down yourself..." Madam paused. She wasn't going to get anywhere this way. "WHERE ARE THE CLOCKWERK PARTS?"

Before Sly knew it, he was slammed against the other door-less wall. His head ached. He had been thinking too much today and now this...

"Who is Clockwerk?"

"DON'T PLAY DUMB WITH ME! WHERE ARE THE PARTS, COOPER?"

"WHAT PARTS?"

"CLOCKWERK! PARTS! WHERE ARE THEY?"

"LET GO OF ME!"

Sly finally found the strength to push Madam off. He rubbed his sore shoulders as he escaped down the corridor and began heading towards the lobby. Sly ran as fast as his legs could take him. As far as he was concerned, he had shaken off Madam for now, but he wouldn't be able to if he stayed within the premises of the orphanage.

Out of the lobby and down the abandoned driveway he ran...

**("Must be that age")**

Cody looked over at the door to inside the building. A disgruntled Madam Teresa came out. Her hair had many strands astray and her paws shook. Cody had just assumed that she had just finished yelling at Daniel. To his surprise though, Madam stalked over to Cody. Usually, she would go and gripe in her office...

"Madam?" Cody stood up with his back straight.

"Where is Cooper?" Cody's ears perked up in surprise.

"Excuse me?"

"Where is he?"

"Who?"

"COOPER!"

"Cooper who?"

"SLY COOPER!" Cody sighed. There was no way she really meant Sly Cooper. Last time he checked, he hadn't seen any odd looking shadows around.

"Poor, Madam...I think your age is finally getting to you..." Cody patted Madam on the back and hugged her. Teresa pushed him away and made Cody crash into the fence. "You know Sly Cooper has gone absent for the last two to three weeks! Perhaps you need to go lay down!" Before Madam could say anymore, Cody pushed her forward inside the building and closed the door.

"I should have pulled out the evidence..." Teresa trailed off as she headed down to the lobby. "But I have to catch him again..."

**(To be alone...)**

Sly had been running for quite a long time, now taking a break every ten minutes. He must've been running for a long time because it was beginning to grow dark out. The streetlights were on, so Sly could make out some of the buildings. It was a very starry night, but the moon was gone. The streets were bare because everyone else was at home. Sly was alone once again.

_'Is this the life of Daniel Smith? To be alone because he is Sly Cooper?' _Sly mentally questioned as he looked to his left.

There, he saw an old looking home. It was actually quite large, which was unusual in a small town like Lauderville. Almost like a section of a mansion had been taken out. Sly looked for any signs in anyone living in it, but he could find none.

The raccoon walked down the dirt path that led to the home and found that there weren't any cars parked. Nothing seemed to be there either. Sly walked onto the porch and found the mailbox. He read the name on it carefully...**Cooper**.

_'Was this my home?' _Sly wondered as he opened the door.

Sly walked into the dark home. It was apparent no one had been here for ten years. The place was extremely dusty, but it would have to do. Sly would have to stay here for the night if he was to evade Madam Teresa. He proceeded inside and looked around for a light.

While Sly was not able to spot a light switch in the pitch black, he did feel a fireplace in the spacious common room. Sly quickly lit it and sat down in a large, red armchair in front of it. Leaning back in it, the raccoon's eyes were becoming droopier by the minute. He was extremely tired from all that running and hiding. Now was his time to rest... His eyelids fell down and Sly drifted to sleep...

**_"Sly, tonight, you are going to get the Thievius Raccoonus, a tradition that is exclusive to the Coopers only...I'm very proud of you. You have come such a long way ever since I first read it to you, Sly," his father explained as he patted his son on the head. The father was about to hand a leather hardbound book to his son except there was a sudden knock on the door._**

_**"Daddy, who is that?" Sly asked.**_

**_"I don't know, Sly...I wasn't supposed to have company tonight...Wait...Something is wrong! Hide in the closet and don't come out until I tell you to!" _**

_**Sly did as he was told and hid in the nearest closet. He kept the door halfway open so he could see what was going on. The cub then heard his father opening the door. Instead of a normal greeting, his father was chased into the common room right in front of the fire—the normal spot where Sly would sit on his father's lap and read the book with him.**_

**_"You have escaped me for the last time, Cooper raccoon," a mechanical owl said, smirking. "The Cooper line shall soon be eclipsed and will become no more."_**

_**"No! I can't let you hurt him!" **_

**_Sly watched with his eyes widening as his father fell over. The cub stood shaking as the mechanical owl picked up the book and handed it over to one of his cohorts. The five of them began ripping up the precious book, not caring about the dead father. _**

**_"NO!" Sly cried as he bolted out of the closet and tried reaching for the book. He helplessly watched as the five fiends ignored him, taking all the pages and leaving the book's owners behind. _**

**(Gone...)**

_**The five crooks left, leaving Sly alone with his father. The cub broke down to his knees and poked at his father's shoulder. **_

**(Cold...)**

_**He didn't move.**_

_**"Daddy! No! Don't be dead, daddy!" **_

**(Silence...)**

_**There was no sign of life left in the room. Thunder clapped right outside the window as Sly held his father's paw. **_

**(Limp...)**

_**"Daddy! Dad! NO! You can't be dead! Dad? DADDY!"**_

**(No more life...)**

"DAD! NO! WAKE UP! WAKE UP NOW!"

Sly's eyes quickly snapped open as he found himself back in the armchair once more. He was gripping the arms of the chair tightly. His breathing had become rapid over the course of his dream, but was now turning slowly to normal. Beads of sweat dripped down his back and the warmth of the fire was bringing him back to reality.

"What just happened?" Sly pondered out loud.

Sly got down onto the rug that was on the floor on his paws and his knees. He inspected it carefully in the light that the fireplace provided and saw a stain—it was red-brown and was not wet, but dry.

"Blood...it's...blood..." Sly closed his eyes and tried picturing a happier version of his younger self sitting on his father's lap. All he saw was a blanket of darkness laid over the Cooper residence and the corpse of his father. Sly felt a frustrated tear trickle from the corner of his eye. "Where's my dad when I need him the most?"

Everything felt empty inside himself. Carmelita had betrayed Sly (or so he thought), Bentley and Murray were probably mad at him, Cody and the doctor had no idea what was going on and he couldn't rely on anyone else. All he had now was himself and only himself.

The jig was up.

**(Notes if you want to bother...)**

Author's notes: Well, I guess that chappie went a little better...Man, I've never had so much fun writing a fanfic before though! Hm...I better say this before I blabber on: Thanks for reading!


	7. Chapter Six: A Walk Down Memory Lane

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Sly Cooper or any characters or any stuff associated with this game. All that belongs to Sucker Punch and Sony, after all, I am just a mere fangirl writing a fanfic! Note: I don't own ANY copyrighted content except the fictional characters I made up for this (namely, the villains and other nameless folks).

**(Chapter Six: A Walk Down Memory Lane)**

Sly woke up the next morning and found he had fallen asleep on the rug on top of the stain. He rolled over and stubbornly sat up. His back ached from falling asleep on the rug. Rubbing his ringed eyes, Sly looked around the room and inspected it.

The sun shone through the crimson red curtains, brightening up the otherwise gloomy room. There was a nice, elegant looking wooden floor, which surprisingly looked new for its age and on top of it; the rug Sly had fallen asleep on was white with a red border. The armchair was also a shade of red and the fireplace was graying from age.

Sly quickly stood up and brushed himself off. Now he could do what he wanted to do the night before—explore the house for evidence of his own past. Perhaps Sly could remember something else once more...

**(Back at the orphanage...)**

Cody watched the five through seven year olds twiddling his thumbs. The disappearance of Daniel Smith was indeed very odd. No one had heard anything from him, not even Ms. Deuducle. Strangely, the headmistress had made a disappearing act herself. Neither she nor Dan were anywhere to be seen.

"Mr. Bryan, when's Danny coming back?" Chandler asked. All of the children still seemed a bit nervous around Cody, but most of them had warmed up to him once more.

"I don't know, Chandler," Cody replied to the joey.

"Things are really boring around here without him," Mike sighed. Everyone at the table was leaning into their paws. Not even the smell of pancakes could cheer them up. Cody shook his head in disapproval.

"C'mon you guys! I'm sure he's going to be back soon!" Cody tried to reassure them.

"What if he's not coming back? What if he's..." Charlotte couldn't finish her sentence. Everyone knew what she had meant. They couldn't stand to imagine it, even if they only had known him for about a day.

"I'm sure that raccoon'll be fine!" Cody said.

Suddenly, to everyone's surprise, Ms. Deuducle came in, rushing towards Cody. She had clearly wanted to come there as fast as she could, because she was panting and her feathers were ruffled. The expression on the owl secretary's face made it clear that she was a bit excited.

"What are you doing here, Ms. Deuducle? Why aren't you back at your desk?" Cody demanded. Even though some would have thought the tone of Cody's voice would be harsh, it sounded rather amused.

"I just got a call from my friend who lives across the street from the Cooper residence!" Ms. Deuducle announced. Everyone's ears at the table perked up. None of them were looking so gloomy anymore. "She says that she saw light through one of the windows for the first time in twelve years!" Cody cocked an eyebrow.

"A light was on? What does that prove?"

"Cody, don't you know the rumor about the Cooper place? Don't you little guys?" Everyone at the table, including Cody shook their heads. "That means that it might be the ghost of Sly Cooper's father reawakened! It only happens when the little Cooper steps into the house once more!"

"Horse poo, Gertrude! You seriously don't believe that story, do you? You know that ghosts aren't real!" Cody retorted.

"I can have fun, Cody, can't I? Besides, nothing EVER HAPPENS here in this old excuse of an orphanage, or Lauderville for that matter! Whoever is in that house must be someone no one here knows since they are an outsider! All the locals know that the house is haunted and so they never go in!" Ms. Deuducle pointed out. The children were "oh" and "ah"-ing as Cody rolled his eyes.

"Still rubbish! Besides, Sly Cooper wouldn't be stupid enough to go into his own house!"

"Well, if you don't believe it's a Cooper, then why don't we make a bet?"

"A bet? Ms. Deuducle, not in front of the kids!"

"No! We wanna see this!" Chandler chirped.

"Okay, Bryan, I say if it is NOT either a Cooper or the ghost of a Cooper, I'll pay you twenty euro! If it is a Cooper or a ghost, you have to pay me twenty euro! Is it a deal?" Cody sighed, shaking his head in disapproval. He had given up talking sense into the secretary.

"For something like this, the stakes should be higher! For all we know, it could really be that rascal hiding from the police! I say the winner receives FORTY euro from the loser!"

"FIFTY!"

"SIXTY!"

"SEVENTY!"

"Who knew bets could be so funny to watch!" Charlotte whispered to the others amidst the chaos.

"NINETY!" Cody suggested.

"ONE HUNDRED EURO AND THAT'S MY FINAL OFFER!" Ms. Deuducle announced.

"Deal!" Cody and Gertrude shook hands as the children watched. "Tonight, we both go knock at the front door to see who's there!" Cody couldn't believe he just said that.

"At ten o'clock P.M., yes?"

"Aw, man! We won't be able to see him!" Charlotte whined.

"Please tell us if it's really Sly Cooper! Will you? Pretty please!" Mike begged. Cody was about to say something, except Ms. Deuducle cut him off.

"Of course we will! We wouldn't want to leave you out of the fun, no matter how much Cody disapproves of it!" Ms. Deuducle commented, giving a look at Cody as if she had just tasted poisoned sugar. Cody knew she was mad at him for making such a big deal of things, but he was going to stick with his opinion, even if he was going with her tonight to the Cooper residence...

**(Looking back...)**

Sly had gone up the second floor and had inspected five out of seven rooms. Of course he hadn't found any evidence yet, but Sly was hoping he would soon...The raccoon would be able to move on with his escape after that...

Sly cautiously entered the next room to be explored in the residence. He found a king sized bed with navy blue sheets. The flooring was maple wood with a blue carpet that matched the bedding. Opposite the bed was a desk and at the end lay a chest. Though the room was elegant, the end of the room was what drew Sly's attention the most. A large bay window revealed a glorious vision of the backyard. A brook went along the back and there was a tree with a large trunk that had a swing hanging on one of its branches.

Sly proceeded over to the desk and searched its drawers. He shuffled through many sheets and folders with labels on them that had nothing to do with his past, and if they did, he couldn't remember. Sly grudgingly pulled all of the folders out one drawer at a time and inspected the drawer for any missing papers. After checking one drawer, he'd put the folders back to prevent any unnecessary piles.

The raccoon was about to give up looking in the blue room when he saw a framed picture. Sly picked up the dark, wooden frame and examined it. He wiped gray wisps of dust off the glass over the picture and looked at it closer. The coloring in the photo was black and white, indicating it was old.

Within the photo, there was a young cub up on an older raccoon's shoulders. The young cub seemed to be beaming down at the older raccoon, who appeared to be looking at Sly with kind eyes. The older one looked remarkably similar to Sly in appearance, yet there were some noticeable differences. The older raccoon was a bit taller and a little more muscular than Sly was himself. In the background was the tree with the swing hanging off it. Sly realized that the photo was taken in the backyard of the Cooper residence.

"Is this me and...my dad?" Sly wondered aloud as he headed over to the window and sat down in the flat area. He gazed at the backyard and his mind went elsewhere, thinking of the pleasures of having a father and being so carefree...

**(Madam's search isn't over yet...)**

Madam had wandered all the way around the circumference of the town the night before. This was certainly no evidence of Sly around, at least none that she was able to catch. Madam was rather upset about that. Perhaps he had already begun to remember his sneaking capabilities!

The car filled with the sound of the Cucaracha as Madam picked up her cell phone and answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Teresa, this is Salvador! I have a message from the boss!" Teresa groaned and glared into the road.

"Well, whatever it is, I'm going to have to do it later because I'm looking for Sly Cooper right now!" Teresa pulled up to the sidewalk and parked, then waited for an answer from Salvador.

"The boss wants you to head to the Cooper household at ten o' clock tonight! According to the local newspaper, there were some sighting of lights coming from there and it was reported earlier there was a raccoon running down the street towards there!"

Madam Teresa smirked. This certainly gave her the lead she needed on her mission. Granted she had never even had time the day before to report to anyone in her gang about her discovery. Madam had just been too busy trying to catch Cooper...and now was her chance to report him.

"Salvador, I have an important message I want you to give to the boss!"

"What is it?"

"I found Cooper yesterday." Before she could be yelled at by Salvador, Madam disconnected and shoved the phone back into her purse. Madam then turned the ignition back on and drove to a temporary pit stop, looking forward to ten o' clock.

**(A Cub's Room...)**

Sly had opened up the chest at the end of the large bed earlier and had picked up a small backpack. It was in this he had shoved the photo into and snapped the bag shut. Slinging the bag over his shoulder, he had headed towards the room right across the hall from the blue room.

The door was easy to open. Despite the age of the door hinges, there was no creaking to be heard. Only the soft footsteps of the raccoon himself as he walked in could be heard. Shutting the door behind him, Sly glanced across the room.

Right by the one window in the room with white blinds, there was a twin sized bed with a colorful looking quilt covering any sheets and pillows that were under it. A dresser was included as well, though this room didn't have a crate of any sort. To compensate for this, there was a closet off to the side, which Sly saw was filled with old toys and blankets. On the walls was wallpaper with hot air balloons drifting on them with a pale blue background. The ceiling made Sly feel claustrophobic, as it was the exact same color as the background of the wallpaper.

Flopping onto the bed, Sly closed his eyes and tried thinking for a moment. Amongst the other rooms in the Cooper residence, this one had to be the most friendly and familiar looking. To Sly, this place could be a haven in such a dark home. His eyes darted around the floor of the room, looking for any hints or clues.

At first, there appeared to be no indication of anything, except a green rug. Everything appeared to be void of any new memory restock. Sly peered a bit more and realized there was a corner of a book sticking out from under the rug.

Sly stood up off the bed and kneeled on the floor as he pulled the corner of the rug back. He pulled the book out and blew dust off the cover as he read the cover.

**_[Sly's Jurnel]_**

The title had been messily written onto the cover in permanent marker. The quality of the handwriting made Sly chuckle as he realized that this must have been written at a young age.

There was only one thing Sly could do now if he was going to get anywhere. He opened the journal up and turned to a random page.

**_[Today me and Daddy read thru the Theivius Raccoonas's section on the pickpokiting. Daddy says he never wants me to do it when I'm little though. He says I'm two yung to do stuff like that._**

**_I also went to...]_**

Sly skipped the rest of the page and flipped farther into the journal. The previous entry was not helping him at all.

**_[I saw Daddy doing a Wrail Walk today! He set up to polls in the backyard and he put up another poll in the middle and tied the ends. Then he got up on the tippy top of the poll and then he walked on it without slipping! It was so awesum! I watched him thru my window, so Daddy dusn't know I saw him!]_**

Sly thought for a moment...Had he himself used the rail walk himself?... It didn't seem possible.****Sly could not remember one instant that he had used such a technique. Pausing for a moment, the raccoon thought about whether he should pass on reading more for now or try cramming more information into his brain.

Sly shook his head. He had to keep going. Sly flipped to the last page, which was blank. He went a few pages backwards and saw the very last entry that had been recorded. The handwriting was even more scribbled than the rest of the journal and there were tear stains on the page, smudging bits and pieces of the entry.

**_[He's gone...Daddy's dead. I'm all alone now. Nobody wants me. It's all their fault! Those meanie animals! They took the Thievius Raccoonus! MY Thievius Raccoonus! One day, I'm going to get it back!_**

**_Daddy fell over in front of me. Red stuff was all over his bathrobe. He was beat up really bad. He had tried using some of the moves from the book, but there was one too many animals there. It was scary watching my daddy die when I was right there. _**

**_The way he looked at me when he fell over and died...I cried. But he looked at me like he was sad and HAPPY at the same time. _**

_**Daddy wouldn't let me help, and I know why.**_

**_I wanted to help him, but I'm no good. I'm useless. That's why everybody hates me, why Daddy wouldn't let me help. That's why nobody wants me! I could have stopped them! So it's my fault._**

**_All my fault...]_**

Sly shook his head. He could not believe what he had read. It was no wonder the cub had been muted after that event. No wonder he had been so lonely. The cub had blamed himself for the situation...**Sly **had blamed himself.

The raccoon was ashamed at what he had just discovered. His father had been suicidal and if he hadn't been murdered, he would have ended his own pain. Frustrated, Sly shoved the journal into the backpack and stood up. He couldn't leave his place yet. This startling discovery was too much. Sly had to find out why.

**(She goes in...)**

Madam Teresa pulled up in front of the Cooper residence and parked that night. To her horror, she saw Mr. Bryan and Ms. Deuducle walking along the sidewalk to what appeared to be the same destination as her. She had no idea what they were doing here, but she intended to get to Sly before they did.

The lights were on inside the house, from what Madam could see. The windows glinted with warm light, meaning that there was a risk of Sly seeing her as she entered the premises.

Teresa got out of the car and shut the door behind her as she walked up the path as quietly as possible. Up the porch she went, ringing the doorbell to the house.

"Is anyone home?" Madam asked.

**(Madam at 10 o'clock!)**

Cody and Gertrude saw Madam pull up at the curb and walk onto the property. They looked at each other nervously and gulped.

"What's Madam doing here?" Cody whispered to Gertrude as they stopped walking.

"Something's fishy here! Madam is usually asleep by now! I suggest we spy on her, also getting the chance to see who is at the door inside the Cooper residence! Let's go!" Gertrude motioned Cody to follow her as both of them ducked behind a dead bush. The two of them peeked over the top, viewing the situation at hand.

Madam rang the front door bell. For a moment, it appeared nobody was home. Madam was about to turn and leave, except the door suddenly creaked, revealing a raccoon in a black sweater with a turtleneck. A black hat topped his head. It obviously served its purpose, because it took both Gertrude and Cody a minute to see what was there.

"Who are you?" the raccoon demanded.

"Don't play dumb with me, Cooper. I know it's you!" Madam quipped.

"What do you want?"

"I've told you—Where are the Clockwerk parts located?"

"Who's Clockwerk? Do you know?" Cody whispered to Gertrude.

"No!" Gertrude shook her head. "Let's keep watching!" The both of them focused back to the two raccoons. "You owe me 100 euro by the way!" Cody gritted his teeth.

"I KNOW!"

"Cooper, if you don't tell me where they are—" In the middle of Madam's sentence, Cody and Gertrude's attention snapped back to the ones on the porch. "—then I will tell the kids at the orphanage your little secret!"

"No! You wouldn't!"

"Smithy, my dear, I am not afraid to. Imagine how much they'd hate you! They think Daniel Smith is the greatest attendant they've ever met! Imagine what would happen if they found out you're just a pathetic thief trying to find his way around once more!"

"But I don't know who Clockwerk is!"

"You're out of mind control! If you can't tell me where they are, then you will come with me and wait until you remember something! Upon release of information on your part, I'll let you go and your secret will still be safe!"

"No! If you want the Clockwerk parts so badly, then they must be bad!"

"Bad for who, Cooper? You? Yes, but for me, NO! My gang and I will rise again, I just need to know where the parts are!"

Before everyone else knew it, the raccoon clad in black ran over to Madam's car and opened the door. He was about to leave when Madam grabbed his arm and practically cut the circulation off.

"Don't pull a getaway on me, Sly Cooper! So are you going to come with me or not?"

From what Gertrude could see, Teresa's eyes were now narrowed slits. The owl glanced over at Cody, who was wearing a look mixed with anger and sadness. Cody's ears were down and his tail was tapping on the tar sidewalk.

"I'm not coming with you!" Sly yelled. Madam chuckled as she let go of Sly and opened the car door.

"Good luck trying to come back to the orphanage tomorrow then!" Madam chuckled as she sat down on the car seat and slammed the door shut. Sly watched as she pulled away, his heading drooping.

"I'm so getting him!" Cody grunted.

"No! Cody! Don't do it!" Gertrude yelped.

She tried grabbing his shoulder, but Cody ran too fast. The calico pushed the Cooper down onto his back against the gray sidewalk. He built up pressure in the raccoon's shoulders and dug his claws into his shoulder blades.

"Daniel Smith, eh? Cooper!" Cody snapped. "Been a long time, hasn't it?"

"CODY?!"

**(Notes for the day...)**

Hello, hello! Well, between reformatting the earlier chapters to match the new ones, fixing any stupid typos that I had the first time I wrote the earlier chapters and writing this chapter, you can say I've been busy lately! But it was well worth it! Now newer readers won't have to deal with my dumb mistakes!

Anyway, thanks for reading and supporting me, you people out there! (hands all reviewers and supporters a large cookie each)

Shady Fetish


	8. Chapter Seven: Emergency

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Sly Cooper or any characters or any stuff associated with this game. All that belongs to Sucker Punch and Sony, after all, I am just a mere fangirl writing a fanfic! Note: I don't own ANY copyrighted content except the fictional characters I made up for this (namely, the villains and other nameless folks).

[I don't own "867-5309" either! That belongs to someone who is NOT ME!]

**(Chapter Seven: Emergency!)**

"Cody, get off him!" Gertrude was using all of her strength to pull the cat off.

"Not until I get some answers!" Cody's teeth were gritted. He kept his hold on Sly firm, digging even deeper with his claws. His tail flicked back and forth. Sly had tried wiggling out from his grip twice, but Cody had maintained the pressure.

"Cody—" Sly started. His face was scrunching up in pain. Cody's claws had penetrated the skin under the thief's ruffled gray fur.

"No excuses, Sly. I want an explanation and I want it now!" Cody abruptly cut the raccoon off. Ms. Deuducle was shaking with nervousness. There was nothing she could do.

"What am I supposed to tell you? I—I can't remember anything! It's déjà vu..." Sly snapped as he backed away from Cody. His light brown eyes stared at an angry Cody, whose eyes were so narrow, squinting as if he was still trying to familiarize himself with Sly.

"Something seems different," Ms. Deuducle pointed out before Cody could yell out another demand. She circled Sly, inspecting him from every angle she could. "Did you get a hair cut or something?"

Cody took Sly's hat off and revealed Sly's suave hair style. "Does that answer you question?" Cody asked. Sly rolled his eyes.

"No, no...There's still something wrong here... You CAN'T be Sly Cooper. You don't come off as a thief. THIEVES aren't supposed to be GOOD around KIDS! And you never showed any suspicious actions!" Ms. Deuducle paused for a moment. "SOMETHING IS WRONG!"

"Of COURSE something is wrong, Gertrude. We have a THIEF here! A THIEF who was not reported to the police! What the hell is this world coming to? The hospital just DIDN'T happen to notice they were treating a THIEF. I'M GOING TO SEND SLY TO THE STATION ASAP."

Cody froze as he realized what he had just yelled. His paws shook as it felt like he had lost all feeling. His fingers felt immobile as he slowly let go of Sly.

The pain in Sly's shoulders was immediately lightened. Sly saw Cody's eyes darting along the ground as the raccoon backed away. Brushing dust and street dirt off his sweater, Sly turned his back towards the two nursery workers, preparing to run.

"No...Sly, don't go..." Cody trailed off as he got off the ground. "I don't know what I was thinking or saying...I can't just go off and tell the police...From what I heard, you can't remember anything."

Sly kept his back turned towards the workers. Who could he trust now? Sly was going to leave soon anyway. Somehow, he was going to get back to the hospital in Paris!

"Go away...Please," Sly requested quietly. Sly waited to hear footsteps walking away, but to his horror, Cody and Gertrude remained standing.

"Isn't there anything we can do to help?" Gertrude asked.

"No. Nothing..." Sly ignored those who tried to help as he ran back into the Cooper residence and slammed the door shut.

Gertrude and Cody exchanged looks. They knew they couldn't try talking to Sly anymore at the moment. Not after what had happened in the last few minutes or so. Both of them had mixed up feelings now. Gertrude couldn't tell whether she should be mad at Sly for lying to her and everyone else or if she should feel pity for the raccoon because he had forgotten everything.

Cody, on the other hand, was still extremely upset, but somehow happy at the same time. He had found the cub whom he had been wondering about for the last twelve years. Sly had still lied to him though. There was no denying that.

"Let's get back to the orphanage, Cody. We have to get back there before Madam does!" Gertrude suggested.

"How will we beat her though?" Cody questioned.

"The shortcut, silly!" Cody looked dumbfounded for a moment until Gertrude sighed and began to explain. "There is a shortcut at Le Rose Street. Instead of going onto Clark Street, we go onto the Main Street and then there should be a pathway that leads right back to the orphanage. If we get going now, we might be able to beat Madam back with just enough time to spare!"

"And you know about this HOW?"

"Long story, but enough yapping. Let's go!"

Gertrude started sprinting back down the street where the two of them had first entered from. Cody stared in disbelief. Who knew Gertrude could be so...peppy? Cody looked back at the Cooper residence, frowned and then quickly caught up with Gertrude. He was not in the mood to be left behind...

**(Le Police HQ...)**

Carmelita was up in her office back in Paris. She had a large stack of papers in front of her, waiting to be inspected. She would have normally completed reading through them earlier, except her mind was distracted. The mental image of "Daniel Smith" refused to go away.

It was rather late. The vixen was about to start reading the first page when the phone suddenly rang. Carmelita's ears perked up and her eyes widened as she picked up the receiver.

"Hello? Who is this?" Carmelita asked.

"Oh, Inspector Fox, thank goodness it's you!" a deep voice on the other end of the line exclaimed. He sounded rather familiar...

"Doctor Luke Black? What are you doing now this late at night? Shouldn't you be on your break or something?"

"I'm usually supposed to be working right about now, but I was able to delay a few minutes. But that is not the point... I just received a call from my friend over at the orphanage, Cody Bryan, and he says Sly is having a few issues right now!"

"How did Cody find out about Sly?"

"I don't know, but whatever is going on, Cody has stated that the headmistress somehow found out Cooper's identity! She's been demanding Sly to tell her where the Clockwerk parts are, but you know as well as I do that Sly can't remember crap right now, even if it's about one of the fiends who killed his father. She hasn't done anything too rash, except from what I understand, she plans to spread the information of his identity around the orphanage. Unfortunately, it is rumored that she has made arrangements with a gang of some sort and we don't know if she would do anything like actually attempt to kidnap him."

"What do you expect ME to do? I'm up to my ears in papers right now!" For now, Carmelita was going to ignore the fact that Dr. Black actually knew who Clockwerk was.

"I need you to nab Cooper out of the situation and bring him back to the hospital. I know you normally wouldn't help a criminal, but I'm sure you can make an exception this once. Besides, if word about the location gets anywhere to any gangs, that could mean that no one would stand a chance if he were to be rebuilt!"

"Well...all right..." Carmelita couldn't take holding her surprise in anymore. "Black, where did you find out about Clockwerk? How do you know about him?" the vixen demanded. She could hear the doctor sigh.

"If you really must know, Sly Cooper's friends showed me the police file that contained what information you had on Sly himself, the so called Fiendish Five and Clockwerk. Now what are you waiting for? Sly is hiding at the Cooper residence in Lauderville."

Before Carmelita could protest, Luke hung up. She sighed in frustration as she hung up herself and stood up. Carmelita rubbed her eyes and took one glance at the clock before leaving the office...

**(Wedded Couple...)**

Sly locked the front door and took one peek out the window. Cody and Gertrude were out of sight. Relieved, Sly trotted his way back upstairs and walked into the blue room. He had left the backpack with all the evidence lying on the bed earlier when Madam had knocked on the front door.

Before the horrible encounter with his new nemesis, Sly had been looking in the blue room for evidence of any reason Sly's father could have been suidical. So far, Sly had not been able to locate a journal of any kind. All Sly had found was another photo in one of the desk drawers earlier, except this one had no cub in it.

It appeared to show Sly's father next to a female raccoon who had long, dark hair. The female, who Sly assumed was his mother, was in a very gorgeous looking white dress with her dark hair half-hidden under a veil. Next to her, Sly's father in a black tuxedo, having an arm around his wife and keeping her close. Both of them were beaming proudly, looking like their happiness could never end.

There was something about the female though...She looked awfully familiar...

Sly, who was about to turn the frame around earlier when he had been interrupted. Now was the moment of truth. Was this a good picture for reference? He was about to find out...

**(Nostalgia in the office...)**

Madam Teresa had snuck her way back up to the office, finding Ms. Deuducle was back at her usual place (meaning she had no idea the secretary had even been gone). She flicked on the lamp on her desk and sat back down in the large leather chair. For some reason, she didn't feel like trying to go to sleep tonight. Sly Cooper had reminded her of a special someone.

She unlocked one of the more private drawers in the desk and pulled out a photo. Teresa gazed into the black and white, pulling herself into nostalgia.

"Christopher..." Madam trailed off as she stroked where her most special memory in the picture was...

**_"Hello again, Teresa," Christopher greeted as he sat in a wooden chair next to her bed. "Are you feeling better?"_**

**_"MUCH better!" Teresa exclaimed happily. "How's she doing?"_**

_**"...Teresa, it's not a she."**_

**_"What? You mean..."Teresa gazed down at her lap, covered by the white sheets. She winced at the thought that entered her head._**

**_"Yes, that's exactly what I mean. He's the next one." Christopher smiled gently, but he didn't realize how depressed Teresa was. She didn't want this to happen to their first cub. In fact, she was getting sick of the lifestyle she had been dragged into. She had better things to do._**

Teresa sighed. Those days were over. She was just a lonely woman now. Considering it all happened about 30 years ago, Madam had to move on with her life now. She would never forget those wonder years though. They were the happiest ones she had lived through.

She took one last look at the photo. The light from the lamp revealed Christopher smiling back at her.

The darkness took over the picture as Madam shoved it back into the desk drawer and locked it in a click.

**(Salvador and his boss...)**

"Salvador, what have you heard from Teresa?" the boss demanded. He was resting his hooves up on top of the table he was seated at. Salvador could not see eye to eye his boss, as the lighting in the room was very dim.

"She's spotted Cooper, sir!"

"That rat from the bank? What is he doing in Lauderville?" The boss pulled out a cigar and lit it, filling the room with the scent of smoke.

"Well, it has been reported that he has been missing for the few weeks!" Salvador winced as a puff of smoke disintegrated right in front of his beady eyes.

"I did hit him on the head pretty hard." The boss revealed his deep laugh. "But I guess that ringtail got what he deserved! That's what he gets when he messes with my schemes!"

"Aye, sir! You don't think we're going to have issues with Teresa and Cooper, right? I mean...you know."

"He can't remember thanks to what I did."

"What about the Clockwerk parts?" Salvador demanded. "There was a flaw in your plan B when you gave Cooper amnesia problems. Now he won't be able to tell us where the parts are and then that money you stole will be useless because we won't be able to use it to repair ANYTHING!" Salvador's tail flicked back and forth.

"You foolish warthog, there were others there with Clockwerk besides Cooper. There was a police officer, whom I believe is Detective Carmelita Fox, and the other two animals in Cooper's gang. We just have to lure them with Cooper. Poor **defenseless** COOPER!"

The boss broke off into a laugh, having his cigar fall onto the cement floor. Salvador quickly joined in. There was no way this plan was going to fail as far as they were concerned.

Suddenly, in the middle of the laughter, the phone on the wall rang loudly. The boss was cut off as he picked up the receiver and waited for a greeting.

"Salvador?" It was a feminine voice.

"Nope, this is the boss himself," the boss greeted back. "What's up, Teresa?"

"Are we moving in?"

"Yes. Where is he?"

**(A moment of truth...)**

Sly turned the photo around and looked on the back for any writing. Glancing at the brown cardboard that kept the picture inside the frame, Sly found nothing. Apparently, writing what the photo was depicting was not a tradition the Coopers had.

Sly was about to put the photo back in the drawer until he decided that he should keep it, just for evidence. The raccoon slipped it into his backpack and snapped the bag shut. He picked it up, gripping it tightly and got off the cold floor. After looking at that picture, something vague popped into his mind.

_**"She's gone, Sly." **_

_**The four year old cub was sitting on his father's knee in front of the fireplace. His mother had recently disappeared, but she had left a small slip of paper behind that passed off as a note.**_

_**"Daddy, why did Mommy go?" **_

**_"I don't know, Sly. Mommy didn't say why." Sly looked up at his father's face. His eyes were glistening. _**

_**Was he crying?**_

Sly shook his head. He should've known that was probably why. Now that he had come to a conclusion, Sly's business was finished. Looking out the window, the streetlights were still as bright as ever, making it safer for Sly to travel along the sidewalk. Taking a glance at the antique clock on the dresser, the raccoon noticed it was just past 10:30.

Much too late to be going out, especially with Madam bugging him.

Flopping onto the large bed, Sly's eyes closed as soon as his head hit the pillow...

**(An hour later, Carmelita stops by...)**

Carmelita parked her car against the sidewalk and gazed up at the Cooper residence. The streetlights were much dimmer, but there was still enough light for the vixen to find her way along the beaten pathway and the old porch steps.

Walking up to the front door, Carmelita knocked.

No one answered.

The detective tried twisting the doorknob, but it wouldn't turn all the way. Carmelita rummaged her pocket and pulled out a paperclip. She unraveled the bent metal and stuck it inside the keyhole at the front door. After a couple minutes of picking the lock, the doorknob was unlocked and Carmelita tiptoed inside.

Almost all of the lights leading up the stairs were flicked on. This made the detective assume that Cooper had snuck upstairs and hid. Hiding her excitement to see Cooper once more, Carmelita bit her lower lip and walked up the stairs, ever so quietly.

At the top of the stairs, Carmelita reached the upstairs hallway and saw that the only light switched on this floor was the one at the very end of the corridor. The vixen snuck up this way, getting closer towards the half-closed door.

Reaching the end, she peaked around the corner of the doorway. There he was. Sly was innocently in a deep coma of a sleep, his chest rising and falling with each breath he took.

_'Snap out of it! Wake him up!' _Carmelita's mind screamed. Her body refused to move and follow instructions, no matter how much her insides demanded it. She couldn't wake him up.

"DAD! NO! WAKE UP! WAKE UP NOW!"

Carmelita jumped as she realized Sly was sleep-talking...As if he didn't do enough talking during the day.

Sly suddenly sat up. His eyes were wide with fright...he had it again. He had that recurring nightmare again. Just like the night before...Carmelita ducked out of view and kept her ear in on the situation, listening closely.

"No...not again..." Carmelita could hear movement on the bed as Sly sat up.

Carmelita sniffed.

_'Oh no... I think I'm gonna sneeze!' _Carmelita kept a finger over her nose. Sly couldn't spot her yet!

"Dad..." Sly trailed off. He seemed to be stuck in perpetual thinking, never able to escape from his own thoughts.

"ACHOO!" Carmelita sneezed. Her eyes watered as she realized she had gotten dust up her snout.

"Who is that?" Sly demanded as he rushed towards the door and opened it. As soon as he saw Carmelita, his eyes narrowed and his ears went down in anger and annoyance.

"Hi, S—"

"What are YOU doing here, traitor?"

"Traitor? Since when I was **I **a traitor?" Carmelita looked like she was about to cry. What had she done to upset Sly like this? Why was she even about to cry? Didn't she hate this thief?

"You going off and telling the police about me too?"

"I never told anyone! What would make you think that?"

"Madam Teresa knows about me."

"Yeah, I heard that somewhere. Who blabbed?" Carmelita was silent for a moment as Sly glared her down. She gulped and blinked back frustrated tears. "I never told her, Sly!"

"She had an audio tape with your name all over it." Carmelita's eyes widened.

"I...I never even saw her...I must've been thinking aloud again!" Carmelita slapped her forehead. "She must've followed me and recorded what I was saying!" Carmelita groaned. "C'mon, Cooper, enough chit-chat. The reason I'm here is because I received a call from the doctor who took care of you. He heard about Madam Teresa from Cody and the doctor wants you to meet up with him at the hospital!"

"You can tell the doctor that I reject his invitation," Sly replied coolly as he backed away and slung the backpack he was still holding onto his shoulder.

"Sly, you're not safe anymore! No one knows what Madam would do at this point."

"I can run, you know. I'm not just some helpless shell. I might be a bit brain dead right now, but that doesn't mean I can't tell when something is screwed up!" Sly continued backing away, getting closer to the bay window. Carmelita was following his every step.

"No one wants you to get hurt!"

"Like I did when I was alone?"

"Sly, please listen to me! The doctor NEEDS to catch up with you. And if you go back to the hospital, maybe you'll see your friends again. Think about it. You'll just cause a ruckus around here if you stay!"

Sly thought about his choices for a moment. It was true that he would cause chaos if he stayed within the Cooper residence, but how could he trust Carmelita? Then there was the fact he was trying to escape from the Cooper residence to go to Paris and there was NO WAY he was walking all the way there.

"All right. I'll go."

Sly could always run later anyway.

Carmelita nodded and turned around, walking back down towards the stairs at the end of the hallway. Sly quickly followed and readjusted his backpack...

**(Who is she?)**

Madam Teresa spied from around the corner and saw Carmelita close her car door and pull away from the curb. She had her cell phone handy and she was conveniently in her car. She brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes as she turned on the ignition.

"Subject is heading onto the highway," Madam pointed out into her phone.

"Follow them!" The boss's voice came from her phone ordering this. "And why don't you leave a call for the Inspector at code _867-5309_? It's about time Sly found out."

Teresa pushed the gas pedal and followed the car ahead, keeping a steady pace. She quickly let go of the steering wheel with her left hand and used her free hand to dial a new number into her cell phone.

**(In the car ahead...)**

Carmelita's cell phone suddenly rang. Her teeth were gritted in annoyance as she rolled her eyes.

"Who would be calling right NOW?" Carmelita wondered aloud as she picked up her cell phone and pressed the reply button. "Hello?"

"Where is Sly Cooper?"

"WHAT? Um...nowhere."

"I know he's there with you, officer. I'm in the car behind you!" The voice didn't sound particularly friendly, or that of someone you would want to be with very often.

"NO! I CAN'T—" A bullet suddenly whizzed through Carmelita's front window and cracked the glass from the back of the car.

"Let me talk to my **son**! NOW!" Carmelita's eyes widened as the cell phone suddenly slipped out of her paw. "Hello? HELLO!" Carmelita suddenly sped up, trying to loose the stalker behind her.

"Carmelita, who's there?" Sly asked.

"I think it's Madam. Don't talk to her." Before Sly could grab the phone, Carmelita snatched it from the ground and shut it off. "Don't worry about it for now. Let's just concentrate on getting to the hospital."

**(Shady's "MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" of the day!)**

Hello! Don't you just love plot twists? [smirks] I think the plot twist from above has got to be the most interesting/plot tenser I have come up with. Ever. Ever. Ever. Ever. Ever. Ever. Ever. Ever... [An hour later] Ever. Ever. [gets whacked by random reader] Okay, I'll shut up now!

Anyway, thanks for reading! Hope you folks enjoyed reading it as much as I liked writing it!

Shady


	9. Chapter Eight: Turning Point

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Sly Cooper or any characters or any stuff associated with this game. All that belongs to Sucker Punch and Sony, after all, I am just a mere fangirl writing a fanfic! Note: I don't own ANY copyrighted content except the fictional characters I made up for this (namely, the villains and other nameless folks). And for this chapter: I don't own the Vulcan Neck Pinch.

**(Onto the story!)**

**(Chapter Eight: Turning Point)**

Bentley and Murray pulled up into the driveway of the orphanage. They shut their bright high beams off and blindly trekked forth into the lobby. If it wasn't for a light or two, the room would have been pitch black.

The brainy turtle walked up to the desk and looked up into the yellow eyes of Gertrude.

"Is Daniel Smith available at this moment?" Bentley asked after clearing his throat. Gertrude looked over both her shoulders and then whispered to Bentley.

"We know who Sly is now, no thanks to Madam," she whispered.

"WHAT?" Bentley and Murray exchanged nervous looks.

"Madam somehow found out about him and he was hanging out at the Cooper residence last time I checked." Before Gertrude could say anymore, Bentley and Murray bolted back out the door and sprinted to the van. They pulled out of the driveway as fast as possible and headed towards their next job: to find Sly...

**(Back at the goose chase...)**

Madam hung up the cell phone and turned it off. She had one paw out the window, aiming at the tires on the car ahead. She squinted, trying to making an accurate shot. Her hand shook as she pulled the trigger once more.

The car ahead of her swerved off onto the side of the road and crashed into the nearby railing. That was one more car that was out of Madam's way. Now there were just two more cars ahead ever since ten minutes ago, Sly and Carmelita had suddenly sped up.

Teresa kept her distance, so that she could try rounding them off in Paris. She had overheard where they were going, so it would be much easier for her to capture him. If she kept up, then she would be able to round Sly off and corner him.

"Until then, my Junior Cooper..."

Teresa carefully slipped the gun back into the car and shut up the window. Gazing ahead at the road, she looked forward to treating her son like her own treasure once more...

**(In the other car...)**

"I think she's slowing down, Sly! I don't see her anymore," Carmelita announced as she peered at her rear view mirror.

Madam's car was nowhere in sight. All the Interpol officer saw was a random passerby's car. Carmelita sighed in relief as she slowed down to a more comfortable speed. The blurs of cars passing by became bright lights that glared into both the thief and the officer's eyes.

"Say, Sly, do you know what Madam's last name is?" the Interpol officer randomly asked. She had to know if anyone else knew about Madam Cooper.

Sly thought for a moment. Now that he thought of it, it was awfully strange that Madam had never mentioned her last name. What was even stranger was that no one else had called her by her last name. It was peculiar indeed...

"No. I don't think anyone knows her last name. Everyone always called her 'Madam' or 'Madam Teresa', but never by her last name," Sly answered. He turned away from Carmelita and stared out the window.

Sly was zoning out into space, blue lights passing him by. The peculiar blue twinkle followed the every bend and turn of the railing, gently curving along with it. It shone rather brightly, considering it was rather late.

It drew Sly outside. He could just feel his heart pumping as he would sneak by and tip-toe past the fence. The breeze ruffled through his fur and his fist was tightly clenched. Deep breaths were nearby and cars zoomed by in a flash every once in a while. Sly was just about to reach towards one animal's pocket—

_**"It is rumored that raccoon master thieves can sense thieving opportunities that reveal themselves as an unexplainable blue aura."**_

Sly's ears perked up and snapped out of his trance as this quote popped into his head.

_'Who said it again...Oh yeah, that Bentley...'_ the thief thought as his eyes drooped once more. _'Man what an exhausting week I've had!' _

Sly glared into the darkness out the window, troubled and wondering what was going to happen next...

**(Mysterious Call...)**

Murray parked the van and left the high beams on as Bentley walked up the front steps of the Cooper residence's porch. There were no lights on in the house and the door was unlocked.

Curious, Bentley knocked on the front door and peeked in through the mail slot.

"Hello, Sly. Are you there? It's me, Bentley, and Murray's here too!" Bentley said as he waited for a least a quiet sigh. Minutes passed as no one came to the door.

"I don't think he's here, Bentley," Murray stated in a panicked tone. "What are we going to—" Suddenly, a ring cut off Murray from the rest of his statement. Bentley realized it was coming from inside the van and rushed over to the front seat. A phone attached to some radars rang loudly as the turtle answer it.

"You're one of Sly's friends, right?" an unfriendly, masculine voice answered on the other end. Coughing could be heard in the background along with screaming and yelling.

"Who is this?" the turtle demanded.

"Let's just say...I'm an acquaintance of Sly's."

"What would you want?" His voice wavered and his hand shook. Whatever this was about, it seemed very bleak. Then again, weren't most mysterious calls bleak?

"If you don't tell me and my gang where the Clockwerk parts are within seven hours at the Le Hospital in Paris, we'll kidnap your little 'master thief' friend, right from his waiting space there."

Before Bentley could protest, the line dropped dead. Bentley's eyes were enlarged under his glasses and his hand shook as he struggled to disconnect. He could not believe what he had just heard. Both of the possible decisions were bad. He couldn't possibly decide! There was only one thing the turtle could do now...

"Murray, let's head to that hospital. We need to find Sly. PRONTO!"

**(In Paris...)**

It was two hours later and Sly and Carmelita pulled up to the curb in front of the hospital. Madam had parked two corners away, unbeknownst to them. If Sly was to escape, Madam would be waiting in a dark corner, snatching him at the moment she saw him.

The thief was being very stubborn about going in, almost as if he were a child not wanting to go into the dentist. Carmelita was forced to pull Sly in by the paw as she stalked up to the secretary's desk and waited for service. The secretary (who just happened to be the same one from Carmelita's last visit) looked up with tired, droopy eyes. She had a mug of coffee sitting in front of her, which was nearly empty. The phone rang, but she didn't seem to care.

"Detective, it's you again!" the secretary greeted. Her voice went on in a drone, monotone oozing from each word.

"Oh, you're that one from earlier...say, is Dr. Luke Black around? I did a little—" Carmelita was cut off as Luke showed up in his uniform.

"Oh, it's Ms. Fox! Good to see you again," Luke greeted. His eyes switched towards Sly. "Mr. Cooper, looking well I see." Sly was about to make an outburst at how the doctor was the one who'd first gotten him into this mess with Madam and these Clockwerk parts, but he bit his lip and kept his frustration pent up.

"Things really aren't so good over there, doctor. Madam was chasing us on the way here for the first ten or so minutes," Carmelita explained as the doctor started leading the two of them into another area of the hospital.

"I figured she would...Sly, did you remember anything?" Mr. Black asked.

Sly gulped nervously. Of course he had remembered stuff, but now it was a matter of what to tell and what not to tell. Granted, he couldn't go ahead and tell the doctor that he had dreams about seeing his father die, nor could he say anything about what lay inside the journal within his very backpack. What was he to do? He hadn't really found out anything else that the doctor would be interested in anyway...

"Sly?"

"No. I didn't 'find out' anything," Sly quickly lied. Luke glanced at the backpack strapped on Sly's back for a moment.

"What's in there?" he asked, referring to the bag.

"Nothing you would care about," the raccoon sneered. He gripped the straps on his backpack much tighter.

"Sly, you can tell me and Carmelita. We're supporting you every step of the way," Luke replied as they stepped into an empty hospital bedroom.

_'Speak for yourself,'_ Carmelita thought in annoyance.

Sly sat down right next to the window and just stared out it. His normally mischievous and vibrant brown eyes were now dull and lifeless. His paw hung limp while he was leaning against his other paw on the sill of the window. Carmelita couldn't believe it took her that long to notice that change in Sly...

"You don't look as okay as I thought. What happened to you back at the orphanage?" the doctor asked. Sly looked up at him with his hollow eyes.

"It's really nothing. I'm just tired," "Daniel" said, trying to make an excuse. Truth be told, everything had passed by too fast for him. He hadn't had time to take everything in that he had remembered or what he had found out. "Could you guys leave me alone for a bit? I think I need to lay down a bit..."

Sly could hear Luke and Carmelita walk towards the door. They had actually listened to him for once...

"I need to drop a call at the orphanage anyway..." Luke trailed off as his footsteps grew further away. Carmelita took one last suspicious look at Sly, and then she left the room, shutting the door behind her.

Sly was alone in the white torture that they called the hospital room. Cooper was pent up in here, being contained as if he were a rabid dog, ready to bite at any moment. He was cross and if anyone was to upset him, Sly would be ready to bite back.

After lingering at the window for a moment, the raccoon checked behind his shoulder, opened the small window and scanned the area. There was a wire nearby that led right to another rooftop. Sly could escape from this prison and recompose himself! And if Madam found him...he'd run.

The raccoon made his escape out the window and hopped onto the wire. It seemed like his ideas were going according to plan.

"SLY COOPER!"

Luke's voice bellowed from inside the room as Sly hopped onto the roof. The raccoon's head pounded as he started sprinting across the rooftops, the freedom filling up his stamina and the temptation of fighting against the breeze revealing itself. He slinked along, making graceful leaps in between gaps. Exhilaration flowed through his body, from head to toe.

Life's meaning seemed to return with each step. What Sly would give to be a real thief once more! He slumped down onto the roof below him, panting and releasing the anxieties he had previously had.

Suddenly, Sly felt a pang of a strange feeling he couldn't remember being attached to in a long time. A gentle smirk formed on his face as he poked his head around the corner. Something was coming back and Sly knew it.

_**"Sly, no matter what happens, don't forget who you are. You're a Cooper and you always shall be. Pure thievery will flow through your blood and honor will always be left behind you, with every step you take." **_

The sound of police sirens blasted by as Sly suddenly frowned. His head dropped as he stared down at the ground. Standing up, he knew what he had to do now.

Sly had to move on with his life. All of this stumbling around at the orphanage had been for nothing. He had hurt those around him. Cody. Gertrude. The children. Bentley and Murray...of course Sly couldn't forget...Carmelita.

Worst of all, Sly had attracted too much attention to himself with the whole fiasco when Madam had found out about him. If the others weren't going to be hurt, Sly would have to find Madam and work something out. The guilt deepened to the pit of his stomach and his thoughts were much too intertwined with the past. He had to move on.

Before Sly could even begin to run once more, a familiar voice piped up behind him.

"Sly! Down here!"

Sly smiled when he saw Bentley and Murray with the van at the bottom of the building. Bentley and Murray looked rather relieved as Sly climbed down and hopped onto the quiet street.

"Thank god you're safe, Sly. We thought Madam had kidnapped you or something!" Bentley exclaimed.

"We've been looking for you for the last two days," Murray explained. Sly slowly nodded. What the irony this was...

"I was looking for you too, and you know what? I'm in the mood to do a little stealing from Madam." Sly was smiling once more. The other two friends smiled back, recognizing that their pal really was returning to normal, day by day.

"You remember how to do...the Rail Walk?" Bentley asked, just to test Sly to make sure that he was ready.

"Let's see...isn't it jump near the blue auras and then land on a wire to gain your balance. Then you just walk across it," Sly said, trying to explain it as best as he could. The genius smiled even more and his face brightened up. This was definitely more like the Sly Cooper he knew.

"I see a bright future for you, buddy!" Murray chirped. Bentley nodded in agreement.

"This is like, a miracle! If you remembered that much, maybe you'll remember everything else. Oh, whatever that orphanage did to you, it's working miracles," Bentley added happily. "But enough patting you on the back, because if we want to get to Madam's hideout, we need to do some research...and I know just the place!"

Sly quickly followed Murray and Bentley as they went up to the other end of the van and sat down in their seats. The familiar scent of the van drew Sly in further as he climbed into the front seat next to Bentley.

"Buckle up, you guys. This is going to be a fast drive!" Murray warned.

Sly didn't heed the hippo's warning until the van suddenly jolted forward. Nearing smashing his snout on the dashboard, Sly immediately struggled to buckle up as quickly as possible. Just as he heard the click of the belt, the van lurched to a stop. Sly could hear Bentley snickering in the back behind the driver.

"What's so funny?" Sly demanded.

Bentley stopped snickering, pulled off his glasses and wiped his eyes off.

"Sorry, Sly, but it was just too funny when you almost fell over. Now, anyway, onto my usual explanations for the job!" Bentley announced as he cleared his throat. "Sly, I need you to go into Carmelita's office and nab some police files on the Bulls Eye Trio. That should hold information about the whereabouts of the gang Madam works for."

Before Bentley continued, he rummaged around in the back of the van and came back with an elegant, golden cane, a red pouch and a blue set of what appeared to be binoculars. The turtle handed these objects off to Sly. The raccoon's fingers were trembling as he strapped the pouch around his leg and felt the handle of the cane for the first time in a while.

"I modified your bino-cu-com, Sly," Bentley said, pointing to the blue binoculars. "Now we won't have to deal with those pesky microphones and I'll be able to keep a better watch on your surroundings."

"Thanks." Sly stuff the bino-cu-com into the red pouch and gripped the cane in his hand tightly. Somehow, it made him feel more complete.

"Sly, exit the van and I'll give you instructions from there!" Bentley ordered.

"Aye, aye, cap'n." Sly mock saluted as he stepped out the back into an alleyway. The city air filled his lungs as Bentley called in. Sly heard a muffled voice coming from his pouch and quickly pulled out the bino-cu-com.

"Okay, Sly, climb up on top of the building...Why don't we get this rendezvous started..."

**(Time to snatch what's mine...)**

Madam stayed perched in her position. She couldn't believe one as smart as Sly's turtle friend would fall for her trick. She was the one who had lured them near the raccoon in the first place. She was the one who had made them follow her towards Cooper-chan. She smirked as her objective came into view.

Teresa leapt down onto the roof and snatched Sly around the waist. Her son froze in her arms. His muscles were tense as Madam stroked his cheek gently; surprisingly glad to be reunited with her child.

"OH NO!" Bentley's muffled scream came from the pouch.

"Sly, how nice to see you again," Madam whispered. "I've missed you much." Madam pinched where Sly's shoulder met his neck.

"Sly, she's doing the Vulcan Neck Pinch! Try running!" The thief couldn't catch this because the sound was still muffled and even if he had heard it, Madam's grip was too tight. It was almost like a forced hug.

Suddenly, Sly blacked out, with his eyesight fading into perpetual darkness. His head hung limp as Madam dragged him across the rooftop.

"Don't let her get away with our target in question!"

The police sirens began to blare and blue lights flashed around Madam as she hung Sly over her back and walked as fast as she could. Whizzing bullets just barely missed Madam as she continued to go as fast as she could over the rooftop. The police were right on her tail, but she would get in the car of hers soon enough.

"Stop right there, Madam COOPER!" Carmelita dashed right in front of Teresa with her shock pistol loaded and ready to fire.

"Aw, how cute! It's Sly's little girlfriend." Carmelita gritted her teeth and kept her finger near the trigger. First Cooper and now Madam! Why did those two always seem to make comments like THAT!

"Don't toy with me. I—"

Before Carmelita knew it, Madam grabbed a smoke bomb out of Sly's red pouch and threw it. Within the misty chaos, Madam ran and hopped into her car. The gang member pushed Sly into the backseat and then buckled herself up quickly. The sound of alarms disappeared behind her as she quickly started driving away from the scene.

"That was too easy," Madam complained, driving at a leisurely pace.

"NOT SO FAST, MADAM!"

A muffled version of Murray's voice came from Sly's pouch. Teresa looked in her rearview mirror and saw the Cooper van chasing up behind her. She narrowed her eyes and pushed down on the gas pedal. This was getting much too annoying.

Murray pursued Madam, navigating his way through the twisted streets all the while keeping up with her speed. This charade was able to be maintained for the about five blocks until nearby guards began throwing mines on the ground. They obviously succeeded in helping Madam escape from the police, because Bentley lost all means of contact with Sly.

**(Meeting in the hospital...)**

Carmelita rode with Bentley and Murray back to the hospital in Paris. Everyone was unhappy with the fact Madam had actually succeeded in kidnapping Sly. All of them felt it right in their bones: failure. The crushing curse that blew them away and the nightmare they wished would be a lie...

But now there was only one thing they could do and that was go tell the doctor what happened and form a plan.

Carmelita and the other two thieves entered the room with frowns adorned on their faces. Carmelita's ears were down and her tail drooped as she tapped Luke on the shoulder (he had been sitting at a table in the cafeteria). When Luke looked up at the trio, he knew something was wrong. His ears went down the same way and his eyes were filled with worry.

After a long period of silence, Luke stood up and looked at the trio.

"It's a good thing I brought in some back up. For what we have to do, we're going to need it!" Luke pointed out. Suddenly, as if they were cued, Gertrude and Cody came in from the hallway with grim faces.

"So Sly's kidnapped?" Cody asked. The doctor nodded slowly, but then cocked an eyebrow.

"What are you two doing here? Why didn't you pick up when I called?" Luke demanded.

"We got this call from this unknown person threatening to kidnap Sly and they gave us the location we thought Sly was supposed to be at, so we drove here as fast as we could...looks like we came too late..." Cody trailed off. The doctor then turned back towards Carmelita, Bentley and Murray.

"Carmelita, you show Bentley and Murray here the way to the headquarters of Madam..." Luke went on to explain his plan, which included rather risqué ideas, like: "Cody, you, Carmelita and Murray will go in and disguise yourselves as guards, thus being able to sneak into Sly's room, wherever that may be. Carmelita, you flirt your way to getting the keys."

"Oh yeah, make it the girl who goes and gets the keys," Carmelita mumbled in disgust.

"Bentley, you and Gertrude stay back in the van. That should work so you two will always be able to drive incase something goes wrong. Everyone get it?"

Everyone else blinked at each other. It seemed almost as if Luke was a mastermind or something. Something was most indefinitely up. The way Luke was verbally panning out his plan was making him sound rather experienced. Keeping their connections to themselves, they just nodded.

"What are you guys waiting for? GO!"

With that, everyone left for the Cooper van. Now it was their turn to steal back their unique treasure...

**(Ramblings of a High School Freshman...)**

Hola, folks! I've been busy with high school lately, but I haven't forgotten about you folks! Smile And I've also been busy with Sly 2, so I've kind of been distracted Sly-wise too...But I'm finishing this ficcie, no matter what! I've already beaten Sly 2's storyline anyway.

Honestly, I don't think this chapter is that good. In fact, I think it's kind of boring...but I'll let you guys (and girls) be the judges of that!

Thanks for reading!

Shady

PS: Yes, the Vulcan Neck Pinch actually DOES work! I had a friend who tried it on her brother once and he said if she had held on any longer, he would've actually fainted.

**PSS (after a much needed edit session): **Hiya again, folks! In case you were actually interested, this version is a reposted version. I just felt the first version was so clunky and repetitive; I had to go back and edit it again. Thanks to randomferret and CooperPrincess for much needed critique on earlier chapters! (Seriously, I've gotten too pampered with compliments.)


	10. Chapter Nine: Rendevous in Le Havre

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Sly Cooper or any characters or any stuff associated with this game. All that belongs to Sucker Punch and Sony, after all, I am just a mere fangirl writing a fanfic! Note: I don't own ANY copyrighted content except the fictional characters I made up for this (namely, the villains and other nameless folks).

**(Chapter Nine: Rendezvous in Le Havre)**

Madam pulled up to an old abandoned storage building at the port of a seaside town not too far from Paris. The combination salty air and city air of Le Havre filled up Teresa's lungs as she got out of her car and pulled Sly out from the backseat, leaving his golden cane in the car. The old building had two mice guarding the front door. When she nodded towards them, they quickly let her into the building, leading her into an old cargo storage room with a cement floor.

In one corner, there was an old table with two familiar men seating at it. Madam recognized the aroma of her boss's cigar. And there was Salvador, loyal to the boss as usual, his warthog eyes suddenly peering towards Teresa and the thief she had caught.

"Pleased to see you are back, Madam Cooper," the boss greeted as he stood up. His tall, extremely muscular self formed a silhouette in the dim light of the overhead lamp. "I see you came back with your son successfully. Now we just wait for our fish to come to our bait."

"Where are we hiding him?" Teresa questioned as the weight of carrying Sly around started going to her arms, making them sore.

"Salvador will show you the way to his 'guest house'," the head honcho said in a commanding tone.

Picking up on the hint of an order, Salvador stood up and motioned Teresa to follow him. Their shoes tapped loudly on the concrete and the sound echoed up to the high ceiling as they headed towards the door. Suddenly, just as they were about to exit to their other building, the boss cut them off.

"Ms. Cooper, were you able to hear from Luke during your rendezvous in Paris?" the boss asked.

"No, sir, I wasn't able to. I have a feeling he led the others here though," the woman said bitterly. "All though for all we know, he might just double cross us again."

"He does have a way with doing that. It's like he can't decide what side he's on!" The boss was glaring down at the ground, shaking his head.

There was a moment of silence as Madam expected another order. Her heart was pounding and her paws were shaking. She glanced down at her son's face, his eyes angelically closed. The mother blinked back tears. She had become so warped in her own anguish that she had just become cold hearted and full of hate towards everyone else in the world...including Sly. While staring at an old mirror, Madam Cooper saw not herself, but an egotistical piece of nothingness.

Teresa nearly regretted disowning her son after she heard that Christopher had died.

But just nearly.

The woman shook these thoughts out of her head and temporarily shrugged them off when Salvador's voice barged into her mind.

"Come on! What are you, Teresa, deaf? We don't have all day, you know."

Right then and there, Teresa considered defying orders and running off to safety in hiding with Sly—the more motherly thing to do. She forced the temptation down. She couldn't do it. She was too used to being everyone else's servant, always doing things that everyone told her to do. The invisible binds held her down and then the chains pulled her towards the same direction that Salvador was taking her. Teresa's feet dragged along the ground as she followed in suit.

The headmistress had to free herself from this prison. She didn't belong here, no matter how cruel and cunning she had come off to those around her.

In reality, Madam Teresa Cooper really was just a woman who had been pained and hurt inside.

**(Meanwhile in Sly's dreams...)**

**_He, the raccoon thief in training, continued running, his eyes streaming from the heat below. His fur was moist with sweat and the steam rose from the lava at the bottom. Out of everything in his life that he had done so far, this had to be the riskiest. But he had to keep going._**

_**He had to avenge his father and his thieving legacy. He had to save it all before it was too late.**_

**_The lava chased after him. Higher and higher he went up the bent metal, the hot liquid oozing and trying to nip at his heels. Timing and precision was important if he wanted to reach the top without getting his fur singed. _**

**_A short while later, he came to his destination in the center of the fiery volcano. His transportation was currently a jet pack, equipped with missiles for later use. _**

**_Before the raccoon knew it, an ice cold, metallic voice began speaking to him. Hate dripped from each word, determined to get its revenge. What was once the mysterious shadow revealed itself as a large, mechanical owl. Its piercing yellow eyes drilled holes into the raccoon's courage. _**

**_"The Thievius Raccoonus doesn't make great thieves. Great thieves make the Thievius Raccoonus," the raccoon stated wisely. _**

_**Wait...is that me?**_

_**"Cooper..." The voice seemed that it could freeze over and numb any minds nearby.**_

**_"Clockwerk." The thief called Cooper gritted his teeth._**

_**Clockwerk...why does that name sound so familiar?**_

**_"You're the weakest Cooper I've ever met. You call yourself a master thief? You're not even worthy of the title 'novice'. Pathetic fool, don't you realize that it is futile to beat me, CLOCKWERK?"_**

_**No...shut up.**_

_**"So wrapped up in your emotions."**_

_**Leave me alone!**_

_**"You have to face the past." The voice suddenly changed from ice cold to warm and kindly. **_

**_Before Sly knew it, he was a small cub bouncing on his father's knee once more in front of the fireplace. The cub looked up at his father, whose amber eyes glowed with pity for the small raccoon whose memories had been mangled._**

**_What if the past ran away from me, Dad? What would I do then? _**

**_"It's inside you. Somewhere within that dark abyss you call memories...all of them are stained, burned and charred for me, Sly. But you...you have a much better life than I could have dreamed of."_**

_**You call being captured by some psycho headmistress better? **_

_**"What are the words they seek, Sly?"**_

_**This sentence seemed to echo around in Sly's mind for a few moments. **_

_**"What words do they wish to hear?"**_

_**The raccoon began falling. His snout was pointed towards hot, molten liquid—the lava from before! His ringed eyes watered as he tried grabbing onto anything that was nearby, but he couldn't. It all disappeared behind him as he reached closer towards the boiling lava.**_

**_"WHERE ARE THEY, COOPER?" a much more metallic version of Madam Teresa's voice snapped. Her voice almost sounded as if she had become possessed by...the mechanical owl that Sly had seen earlier in his dream._**

**_Just as Sly was about to begin touching the lava, words escaped his lips._**

**_Krack-Karov! The location of the Clockwerk parts is in...Krack-Karov in Russia. Now leave me alone!_**

**(Regrets)**

Madam had requested Salvador and the guards to leave her alone for a few moments after the warthog had guided her into the jail room. Now there Teresa was in the corner of the cell with her son's head in her lap. He was still asleep, his breathing once steady now rapid with a frightening moment imprinted into his thoughts.

A quiet sound escaped Sly's lips as his breath became caught up in his throat. Teresa nearly jumped but remained still, not wanting to wake Sly up. She wasn't sure why she was doing this, but it was perhaps because the thief reminded her so much of her deceased husband. Or perhaps it was because...Madam shook her head. She wasn't warming up to Sly. It seemed impossible, but yet it seemed to be happening.

The mother began panicking as she thought of the price of warming up to anyone ever again. She couldn't love anyone or anything again. The "anyone" would just turn away from her like THEY did. She promptly pushed Sly's head out of her lap and stood up, brushing her skirt off and pulling her hair out of her arctic eyes.

Madam locked up the jail cell just in time as Sly stirred. She watched as he blinked numerous times and sat up. His blazing, ember orbs questioned Teresa as he stood up.

"So you're awake...S-Sly," Teresa greeted, stuttering on her son's name.

"Go away, Madam. Haven't you made this bad enough?" Sly demanded groggily. He let out a long yawn.

"Sly, please listen to me. I have something important to tell you." The female raccoon could feel butterflies building up in her stomach, but she figured it was time Sly knew the truth. She reached out towards her son through the bars and just barely touched his fingertips. "I'm—"

"Madam, Boss needs to see you!" a guard's voice yelled, cutting Teresa off from her confession. A weasel guard dressed in blue came from around a corner with his pistol loaded.

"We'll talk later, Sly." Teresa pulled her hand out from in between the iron bars and stalked out of the room.

"...Teresa!" the thief's voice called.

"QUIET YOU!" the guard snapped as he had his pistol aimed at Sly's forehead. "Don't make me use this."

Teresa shuddered at the thought of even one bullet penetrating her son's skull, but she kept her worries to herself as she ran out. Just thinking of the possibilities of her son dying in that prison made her worry even more. He was the only true family she had left. The rest had either died or turned their backs away from her, rejecting her and disowning her.

What had Teresa done to deserve this? She had just married the man she loved. What was wrong with that besides the fact he was a thief? He was kind, gentle, sensitive and was always ready to protect her. Deep down, it may not have seemed like it, but Teresa really did love them both—the father and the son...

**_Christopher scooped the cub up in his arms. It was the season of orange and crimson leaves and the cub had just turned three years old. The day had been a good one, with playing around in the leaves and even more fun that had to be enjoyed._**

_**Teresa stood right next to the back door, watching them from afar. Normally, she showed no emotion, but today she couldn't help but smile. This was one of the few days Christopher wasn't busy teaching his son the responsibilities of being a Cooper.**_

**_"Hey, Teresa, come here," Christopher beckoned. "We wish you were over here right now!"_**

**_The mother quickly nodded and ran as fast she could over to Christopher and her son. The cub looked up at his mother with innocent eyes as he waved at her._**

_**"Mommy!" the cub greeted.**_

_**"Hello, Sly," Teresa greeted back. **_

**_Christopher put Sly down for a moment and gave his wife a gentle kiss._**

_**"I love you," Christopher whispered.**_

**_"I love you, mommy!" Sly exclaimed, which apparently showed he had overheard what his father had said. It took Teresa a moment to grin._**

_**"I love you too..."**_

The mother couldn't contain it anymore. She slumped down to her knees onto the ground (right after she had gotten out of the prison building) and her vision blurred as tears escaped from her eyes. Teresa cried for Christopher, Sly and herself. They could have had such a happy life together, but she was arrogant and self-absorbed back in those days. She had greedily stolen the happiness away from the Cooper family and hidden it with her when she had left.

"What the hell have I done?" Teresa cried out loud. She buried her head into her hands as the saddest droplets wet her fur.

The sound of water splattering against cement became the ambience sound as it began to rain. Teresa didn't bother to move, too upset to carry her pride in one piece. Her clothes became soaked within minutes and her hair was limp and damp. Her fur was matted, but that didn't seem to matter to Teresa right about now.

There she sat in the rain, finally rebelling against an order...

**(Carmelita and company to the rescue!)**

"Okay, you guys, Luke warned us earlier not to park directly near the Bulls Eye Gang's HQ. That's why we're about two blocks—" Bentley started.

"We know. Can it, turtle, we don't have time to listen to your speech. We KNOW that we're supposed to get uniforms somehow and we KNOW that I'm supposed to flirt with the guard blocking Sly!" Carmelita snapped as she, Murray and Cody hopped out of the car.

"Yeesh, he's just trying to remind you!" Gertrude snapped back.

"C'mon, if we're going to save Sly, we need to go now," Cody pointed out. "And..." Cody paused as he shivered. "I'M FREAKING COLD FROM ALL THIS RAIN!" The calico's whiskers bunched up and he suddenly sneezed. "See what I mean?"

"You're right. We shouldn't really argue right now..." Carmelita trailed off.

Murray remained silent as he followed Carmelita and Cody along the route Luke had told them about earlier. Carmelita led the two men, crouching behind corners whenever there was a guard nearby. The three of them were quiet, tiptoeing and keeping their breathing to a minimal. Though they could've easily been quiet other days, the rain was making their shoes squish with each step.

And just as the three of them were about to get into the storage building that had uniforms in it, they suddenly stopped when they heard a crying coming from nearby. Cody and Carmelita's ears perked up and Murray became tense as they listened closer.

"Oh god...why?" The sobbing continued as Cody tapped Carmelita on the shoulder.

"I...I think it's Madam," Cody whispered. Carmelita and Murray nodded as the vixen poked her head around the corner.

There she was. Teresa had her face covered by her hands. Her clothes were clinging to her and the rain matted her hair and fur. The raccoon's ears were pushed down and her tail appeared like it could be stuck against the cement. Carmelita couldn't help but feel sorry for Madam. She was about to walk out from behind the corner when Murray grabbed her shoulder.

"Um...I don't think that's a good idea," Murray whispered.

"Let go of me. We might be able to get her help!" Carmelita whispered back as she shrugged off Murray's hand. The vixen motioned the men to follow her as she walked up to Teresa and knelt on one knee.

"Are you okay? What's wrong?" Carmelita asked. Teresa looked up, her ring eyes soaked and slightly red.

"Why should you care? Don't you hate me?" the mother asked. Carmelita shook her head.

"Not everyone hates you...They might hate what you do to them, but they don't always hate you," Cody said as he stepped in.

The calico held out one paw and Madam took it and stood up. Carmelita got off the ground and smiled. This could definitely be a way to win Madam over to their side. When Murray saw everything was all right, he stepped out from behind the corner and stepped up behind the vixen and the calico.

"Cody...Sly's friend...officer? Let me guess: the three of you are here to break Cooper out of the cell, eh?" Everyone else gulped and nodded nervously. "Well...I'm breaking him out with you...I have to save him." Cody cocked an eyebrow.

"But you're the one who kidnapped him! Why do you want him OUT?" the calico demanded. The former headmistress shook her head.

"There's something I've never told anyone before...well, except the vixen right there..." Teresa pointed towards Carmelita. "I...I used to be so ashamed of it, but now...I'm not." Madam took a deep breath and closed her eyes, not wanting to look into the watching eyes of the others. "I'm—"

"TERESA, BOSS WANTS TO SEE YOU NOW! LUKE'S HERE TOO!" Salvador yelled as he came out from a nearby shed. As he stalked over to the four of them, his beady eyes flicked from Murray, to Cody, and then to Carmelita. The warthog's eyes flashed back towards Madam Cooper as they narrowed.

"These folks were looking for guard jobs, but they got lost," Ms. Cooper lied.

"Oh...I see. For a minute there I thought they were intruders. Well, maybe they can follow us and talk to Boss," Salvador said as he motioned the four of them to follow him. "Keep up, newbies, we don't have all day!"

Murray cringed at the name "newbies". It reminded him too much of when Bentley had stayed up late playing a massively multiplayer online game (or MMOG) one boring and heist-less night. The turtle kept yelling at the computer monitor to stop calling him a "newbie".

The hippo shook his head. He was wondering if Sly would remember that night...

The warthog opened the back door into the room Teresa had first entered earlier and led the four of them inside. The room was strangely quiet, except for a laugh coming from behind a set of large crates. A flash of lightning brightened the room momentarily and a crackle blared as the sound of lightning came from outside.

Salvador motioned the group to stay behind as he walked around the corner. There was a scream as a gunshot went off. Everyone else saw Salvador fall from behind the corner, his body limp and motionless. Madam's ringed eyes widened as her body shook with fear. From behind the corner, a fiend stepped out with a pistol gripped tightly.

"Luke Black. I knew this had to be your doing," Teresa said through gritted teeth.

"Wait...am I missing something here? How can the doctor be the main villain now? None of my evidence led up to this!" Bentley's voice exclaimed from the bino-cu-com lying within Carmelita's pocket.

"Luke Black? So you were just using your role as a cover-up," Carmelita confirmed. The doctor smirked as he stepped further out of the shadows, revealing a smirk he had never worn before.

"That's right, and as soon as the mother is out of my way, I can steal the Cooper myself. Right, Teresa?" Luke had the pistol aimed at Madam, his finger right in front of the trigger.

Carmelita and the female raccoon knew what the doctor was talking about, but the others apparently didn't. Everyone stared at Teresa, silently demanding an answer or explanation. The raccoon's ears went down and she frowned. She didn't want to tell them like this.

"I—I'm...not...I am...When I was younger, I ran into the love of my life at a museum's premiere party back in the days when I was still accepted in my family as one of them—rich, yet they had no hearts, no life outside of modern day nobility. But when I met HIM, I thought he was the best gentleman I had ever met. Very charming, somewhat quiet, yet very kindly. We eventually married, right after being rejected by the rest of my family, and we settled down in Lauderville—"

"Get to the point, Teresa!" Luke snapped, keeping his hold of the pistol he was wielding steady.

"Cut her some slack, Luke," Carmelita suggested, aiming her conveniently located shock pistol at the doctor. The vixen nodded at the mother, telling her it was okay to continue.

"...Anyway, my husband and I eventually settled down in Lauderville and lived a quiet life. Together we had a son...and we named him...Sly Cooper."

A clank came from the back of the room as if something had been dropped. Everyone's attention turned towards the back of the room. There, they saw the thief who had escaped and somehow had managed to get his cane out of Madam's car. His amber eyes were wide with shock and he seemed too stiff to move.

"Y-You're my m-mother? B-But you c-can't be," Sly stuttered. He suddenly started glaring Teresa down and the tone of his voice became louder. "You're the one who caused my father all that pain—THAT ANGUISH?"

"Sly, my little boy—"

"Enough melodrama, Teresa, Luke looks like he's going to shoot any minute," Cody warned.

"Cody, Murray, you guys take Teresa and get back with Bentley and Gertrude. He's waiting right near the prison building. Then call the police and get them over here as soon as possible. Carmelita and I will stay here and keep Black busy," Sly whispered to Cody low enough for only the two of them to hear.

The calico quickly nodded as he grabbed Madam Cooper's and Murray's wrists and took them out of the building.

Luke ignored them as he set his sights keenly on Sly. His plan had been successful so far, but he couldn't stop now. Luke HAD to finish this plan and then pull of the ultimate heist. Those pawns he had just killed off couldn't go to waste.

"You ready, Carmelita?" Sly asked as he held his cane up in a defensive position.

"Ready, Sly. Just tell me what to do!" Carmelita instructed. "...And I can't believe we're allied against someone again!"

**(Shady's Snippet of the Chapter)**

Hello, readers! After a very busy two weeks of being grounded and homework stuff, I'm back. I hope this chapter didn't disappoint you folks at all...As you might've noticed (or not noticed), the next chapter is probably going to be the final.

And since I'm really not in the mood right now to blabber about how I think the chapter came out, I'll just say thanks for reading!

Shady


	11. Chapter Ten: Now The Sun Will Shine

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Sly Cooper or any characters or any stuff associated with this game. All that belongs to Sucker Punch and Sony, after all, I am just a mere fangirl writing a fanfic! Note: I don't own ANY copyrighted content except the fictional characters I made up for this (namely, the villains and other nameless folks).

Other note: I don't own Iron and Silkeither...The title belongs to Mark Salzman!

**(Chapter Ten: Now The Sun Will Shine)**

Sly gritted his teeth as he clutched his cane tightly and glared at the infamous Luke Black. The raccoon knew that he would be fallible if he made even the slightest misstep. He would let everyone down, especially himself. He had been able to rebuild his inner persona since he had lost his story and now, he couldn't let it crumble.

"Carmelita, I'll distract him while you run around behind him and shoot him down," Sly ordered softly. The cop quickly nodded as the thief turned his attention towards Luke.

"Knave. You're the one who caused me all this pain," Sly started, using very harsh, clipping tones. "You're the one who got me into this trouble."

"So what if I am? It was about time the famous Sly Cooper had his downfall. He can't always win, can he?" Luke taunted. "The thief with humble beginnings. The low down orphan...Technically, you are an orphan since your mother abandoned you, eh?" The raccoon's eyesight blurred for a moment as he wiped his eyes.

"Don't talk about Teresa that way!"

"Aw, did I hit a soft spot? So you really do love her, even after all she's done to you. Remember your father's attempted suicide?" There was a long pause. "You know, with that overdose of sleeping pills and that knife nearby, just incase." There was another long pause. "No, of course not, you were bed if I remember correctly...and of course he didn't succeed, because you woke up and invaded his privacy after you heard him yelp when he first sliced himself."

"HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?"

"Let's just say that I did a little investigation after you were sent off to Happy Camper's that long time ago. I got to read into his thoughts after finding that diary of his. After he described Clockwerk in that thing, I was determined to find that power—THAT WEAPON—and take it for myself. And then...just as I was about to destroy it, I found out about YOU, so naturally, you were my next target. The barrier standing in my way... and what an interesting barrier you are..."

Sly checked behind the fiend and found that Carmelita was having a bit of difficulty getting behind Luke, as he had kept moving around and changing position and view.

"...Cooper, you have no idea how fun it was to manipulate you. A lost stumbling fool who was once a grand master of heists was brought down to nothingness. And this former master, he was not a cop, not a thief, not a citizen. Just a distant shadow hiding in the corner, crying for help, yet no matter how loud he cried, everyone else would just ignore him. That, Cooper, is interesting."

Luke stepped forward about three paces, giving Carmelita a chance to sneak around him. Sly kept firm as he gulped and waited for more of this pompous speech. It was quite depressing to hear this from his current nemesis, but it was true. The raccoon could not help but feel guilty.

"I—" the thief started.

"That Teresa...your mother is quite beautiful, Sly, with that charming smile and those sparkling eyes... That was another thing that made this whole scheme so entertaining, yet so easy. Her past consumed her, weakening her and making her plan a meeting between me and the boss of the former Bulls Eye Gang. Thus another piece of my plan was laid down."

"And what would that be?"

"I pretended to ally myself with the Bulls Eye Gang and 'help' them claim the Clockwerk parts for themselves. At the opportune moment, I sent the group after you, making it easier for me within the chaos to kill off the other gang members...apparently, since the group found Teresa, my plan did get a little messed up there, but...so far, it's all worked out."

Carmelita snuck up behind Luke and placed her finger over the trigger of her shock pistol...

**(Call for help!)**

Cody quickly pulled the van door open and caught the attention of Gertrude and Bentley. Murray hopped inside the van, panicking and waving his arms about as he took his seat at the driver's wheel. This caught the turtle's attention as he stopped examining a radar.

"Huh? You guys are back so soon? According to my calculations, this plan should've taken you at least twenty minutes longer and—MADAM? Why is MADAM with you guys? Get her out of here!" Bentley yelled.

Teresa's ears pressed down as she stared down at the pavement. She tried hard not to glare at Bentley, but she couldn't help but narrow her eyes. Cody let out a soft hiss at Bentley as he clutched Madam's paw, massaging her palm with his thumb as he attempted to calm her down.

"She's on our side," the calico pointed out in annoyance as he helped the raccoon up into the van.

"Where's Sly and Carmelita?" Gertrude asked before Bentley could snap back at Cody with some long speech.

"Carmelita had to stay behind with Sly to stop that doctor guy..." the hippo in the driver's seat trailed off. He twiddled his thumbs nervously. Murray was trying to remain focused and not go crazy.

"Speaking of which...Murray, call the police and tell them about Luke and what he's done. Don't forget to tell them the location too. That should be about it for information," Cody ordered. Murray obeyed as he picked up the phone that was attached to the radars and dialed 9-1-1.

"What a motley crew you have here," Teresa finally said after being silent for so long.

The mother glanced up at Cody with a gentle smile on her face. The calico looked back at her and met her gaze. His emerald green orbs comforted her, making her feel much safer than she had ever felt in a long time...since the last time she had been in Christopher's arms.

"You're looking much happier, Teresa," Cody commented.

His nose twitched as there was silence between them. The two of them just stood there quietly, enjoying a moment of peace. Cody held the raccoon's paw firmly and was standing close to her, shielding her from Bentley's disdaining glares.

"Are you feelings for Christopher resolved yet?" Madam opened her mouth to answer, but paused for a moment. This was quite a difficult question, but she had an idea.

"I'm feeling better about it. I know, somewhere deep in my heart, Christopher will always be there, but now, there's room for another man. One who can stay by my side and be able to truly love me."

"You're saying he didn't love you?"

"No, it's that sometimes he was gone on heists a lot. Once in a while, he would be gone for weeks on end organizing heists with his friends. It drove me crazy, but somehow, I still loved him and I stayed as long as I could."

"I can imagine that since you were the wife of one of the greatest master thieves. And...that man was very lucky to have a wife like you for the time you stayed, Teresa." Madam cocked an eyebrow as she pulled a stray hair out of her face.

"Lucky, eh?"

"Yes, very lucky!" Cody nodded enthusiastically, but suddenly slowed down, trapped in the gaze of Teresa's artic jewels. His knees suddenly felt weak and his tail twitched nervously.

"Anything wrong?" Teresa felt a tingle deep down in the pit of her stomach. She grabbed Cody's other paw and struggled to remain standing. The skin under her fur grew warm and a cocky grin spread across her face.

"Nothing wrong here..."

The calico found himself leaning in, unaware of everything else going on around him. His tail had stopped twitching and was now swaying calmly, suiting his mood. His eyes gradually closed and he felt something soft against his lips. Calm spread through his blood as he opened his eyes.

There was Teresa, gently kissing him and through the window, he could see the rain lightening up to a sprinkle. The two of them held on to each other tightly, with no desire to let go. It almost seemed like a dream.

"Hey, Bryan, stop making out with your girlfriend for a minute and help me over here!" Gertrude exclaimed, cutting the kiss off. The calico perked up as he walked over to her position over radar.

Teresa couldn't help but feel dumbstruck. She ran a finger over her lips and stared blankly at where the calico just was.

**(A call received...)**

"Wait, let me get this straight, Murray? You know where THAT notorious criminal Luke Black is? ...He just killed off two members of the Bulls Eye Trio slash Gang slash STOP CHANGING THE DAMN TITLE! ...You've found Sly Cooper and Detective Carmelita Fox. That's great! Now exactly where are you?" the operator asked as she twirled the telephone cord around her finger.

The caller sounded rather irritated with her strong, choppy French accent. He had to ask her to repeat questions at least five times before he understood them.

"So it's near the headquarters in the abandoned port. No wonder they were able to keep hiding for so long. Don't worry, Monsieur Murray, we'll send people over there immediately!"

With that, the operator hung up and smirked.

"Finally we get some action in this dump. Time to go to report to chief! ...Oh gee, I hope nobody leaks to the news media about this..."

**(We miss you, Danny!)**

Chandler, Mike and Charlotte stared out the cracked window during arts and crafts time, absentmindedly drawing and watching the rain outside. It had been about three days since Mr. Smith had left. Nobody ever thought that anyone would really miss him since they had only known him for about a day or two, but they did. The joey was especially taking it hard. Daniel was the first man he had ever been able to make a connection with ever since his parents had rejected him out of his first home.

There on the papers of the five through seven year olds, were various drawings all relating to either the story Daniel had started, or just of Daniel himself. This really seemed to show how much they really missed him, because the bat watching them sneered at the drawings.

"You brats are so pathetic. Don't you realize that chum isn't coming back?" the bat scoffed as he picked up the drawings of the trio. "You need to stop thinking about him." He ripped up all the papers into tiny shreds and threw them up into the air. Like feathers, they fell slowly, gradually carpeting the linoleum floor. "Now draw something else!"

The five through seven year olds glared at the bat as he left towards another station. Charlotte was forcing herself to choke back tears, being the sensitive kitten she was.

"Why don't we draw a joint picture and hide it from the geezer," she sniffed. Charlotte wiped her blue eyes as she glanced at Mike and Chandler.

"Good idea. We can give it to Danny when he gets back!" Mike whispered.

Chandler quickly nodded in agreement as he pulled out a piece of white paper from a stack in the middle of their table. The three of them were beaming, ignoring the other five through seven year olds, as they began their masterpiece. The three of them were carefully hunched over it so the bat couldn't see it.

The stiff lines they formed with the materials they had (which consisted of nothing but crayons) gradually revealed the image. The colors clashed and collided against the white backdrop. Sometimes the lines would be jagged wherever fingers, elbows or shadows interfered with the creative process.

Finally, after taking so long, they were finished. It was spelled out in front of them: Daniel was hanging out in the sandbox with Chandler, Charlotte and Mike. In the background on top of a telephone pole was the shadow of Sly Cooper, watching the four in the sandbox. There was just one thing missing...

"You wanna do the honors, Chan?" the siamese kitten asked.

Chandler took a blue crayon from Charlotte's paw and wrote on the picture in a blank spot:

_We miss you, Danny!_

The trio grinned at their picture as they quickly folded it up.

Suddenly, another adult came charging in. She was panting and her hair was astray. Her mangy fur was ruffled and his clothes wrinkled. The bat turned his sights towards her direction and cocked an eyebrow.

"What's wrong?" the geezer asked.

"S-Sly Cooper's been spotted," the woman replied. "They just found him in a port in Le Havre!"

"Him? What did he have to say?"

The trio began looking at each other excitedly, hoping this was a sign of Danny.

"...Nothing. He was guarded by a police officer."

**(Iron and Silk)**

The doctor gazed at his ex-patient. The corners of his mouth were turned up in a malevolent smirk. His height loomed over Sly in an almost surreal way. The raccoon could not help but be afraid.

"Cooper...you are a pathetic fool. You may be trying to appear strong, but I bet somewhere in that mind of yours, lies more pain, anguish and sadness than anyone could know. Admit it—you're a nothing."

"NO!"

"A nothing left in the corner. A nothing who can't speak, beg or cry. All the nothingness will consume you. You'll eventually become just a mere shell!"

"N-no way, IT'S NOT TRUE..."

"It happens even to the best of us, Cooper. That is when we fade away. That—" Before Luke could ramble on, he was tapped on the shoulder. The siberian tiger swerved around and glared at Inspector Fox.

"Excuse me, SIR, but I think he deserves a second opinion." Carmelita hissed. Her brown eyes were flashing with hatred and anger towards the fiend. Her fists were shaking as if she was tempted to just punch him.

Carmelita was angry at what the doctor did to everyone. She was mad at him for taking the lives of the two Bulls Eye members, no matter what dastardly crimes they may have committed. She was made at him for hurting Teresa and for all the other infamous acts he may have pulled off. Most of all, Carmelita was angered because of what he did to Sly. The way he manipulated the raccoon's inner emotions and fragile sanity was just cruel.

The vixen pulled the trigger on her shock pistol and watched as the bullet hit the doctor in the head. Luke's eyes widened as he felt the extra punch of the pistol smite him. He trembled for a moment and opened his mouth to speak, but fainted before he could say another word.

"Black Plague."

Carmelita spat in Luke's face and handcuffed him in a click. She felt a gust of satisfaction make its way towards her mouth, which made her lips contort into a smirk. As she put away her shock pistol, she glanced over at Sly, who glared down at the doctor. He was about to run, but then turned towards Carmelita. He looked rather relieved and calm, something that was reassuring to the cop.

"Thank you...Carmelita," Sly said quietly. He turned away and was about to escape once more, but the red fox grabbed his shoulder.

"You lucky raccoon, look at how much you've been through. I'm surprised you haven't cracked under all of this pressure!" The officer paused for a moment, as if she was thinking. "Let me reword that. You're one tough raccoon. I mean, you saw your father die, making it up to you to keep your family's...legacy alive and now this mess. You've been through so much."

"Carmelita...um..." Sly turned around and looked up into the vixen's brown eyes. "I want to...give you something." Carmelita smiled playfully as she took her hand of Sly's shoulder.

"And what would that be?" Carmelita tried to keep her distance from Sly, not wanting for this to turn into a serious affair; however she was not having much luck.

The two of them drowned in the other's brown eyes, trying not to become tense at such a peaceful moment. Sly was motionless for a short while, his ring tail wagging slowly, but then he leaned in towards Carmelita. He could hear her exhaling quietly and her heart beating faster and faster. The thief ignored the sound of light rain outside and ran his hand through the cop's raven locks.

"Cooper, st—"

Sly cut her off as he gently pressed his lips against hers. Carmelita relaxed as the raccoon stroked her hair, wrapping her arms around the thief. She kept him close, protecting him from eyes above. Sly's amber eyes were silently serenading to her as he slowly pulled away, shrugging off Carmelita's arms. He wiped his mouth and felt heat rising in his skin. He couldn't believe he just did that.

Carmelita couldn't really believe he had just done that--AGAIN. Yet her fiery and strong disposition faded away for a few brief moments as she held Sly and returned his gift. His slick, smooth style was getting to her, making her show her true emotions. She just wished she could show it more often. She wished she wouldn't be so stubborn and uptight...that's what happened to her after her years of working at Interpol thus far.

There they stood together, cherishing the moment just when the rain finally cleared...Iron and Silk...

The doors behind Sly suddenly opened with a crash. He and Carmelita quickly let go as a squad of cops barged in and surrounded the body of the unconscious Luke Black. A clique of reporters quickly followed. Lights rapidly blinked from the cameras and a cameraman kept the film on Sly and Carmelita.

"Mr. Cooper, where have you been for the last couple of weeks?" one news reporter demanded as she jabbed her microphone right in the raccoon's face.

"Did you hide, thinking everyone would forget about you?"

"Some girls have wondered what kind of women you like. What kind do you like, Mr. Cooper? You know, for Notorious Criminal Monthly?"

"Leave him alone, stalkers. He can't speak right now!" Carmelita snapped as she hid Sly's face and exited the storage room with him.

The vixen quickly let go of the raccoon and saw how wide-eyed he was. Beads of sweat dripped down his forehead and glittered in his fur. He was shaking and his tail was twitching as he heaved a sigh.

Carmelita and Sly stared at each other for a few quiet moments, calming themselves down. This had definitely been a nerve-wracking experience and it was one they would never forget.

"...Come on, Sly...let's get out of here before they show up again..." Carmelita suggested as she grabbed Sly's paw.

The two of them had a short walk on their way back to the Cooper van. Sly could not help but feel he was about to fly. He was right there next to his favorite officer, holding hands. He had just shared one of the most exhilarating feelings with Carmelita. He still felt her red lips touching his and the warmth of being in her arms engulfed him. Best of all, Sly felt Carmelita's feeling for him shine through those few moments ago. She really did return his love, no matter how much she hid her real emotions. Now he really knew the truth...

"Sly! You're OKAY!"

Sly looked up and saw Madam smiling.

"Mada—Mom?"

"Sly..." Teresa pulled him into a bear hug and whispered into his ear. "I'm sorry for everything I've done. To you, to everyone else...to your father..." The mother sniffed. "I'm so sorry, Sly, if I could..." She paused as she wiped her eyes. "I would go change the past..."

"You might not be able to change the past...but you can make up for it."

The two of them had a heart to heart moment as they sent reassuring smiles towards each other. They knew things were going to be much better between the two of them from now on...

After a bunch of greetings and brief reunions, the whole group headed towards Lauderville, driving off into the sunset in the Cooper van...

**(Looking back on it...)**

**Here I am...I'm back on my feet. The gang and I have just arrived near our rendezvous point for our first REAL heist. It has been two years since I first pushed Clockwerk back in the shadows. Now, he's in danger of coming back and I have to stop him for good before anything horrible happens...**

**So much has happened within the last two years. It's amazing what can be accomplished in such a small amount of time. And that whole incident with my memory loss...it was like it happened just yesterday. **

**Cody and Teresa have been courting each other regularly, from what I've heard from Gertrude. She says they really make the perfect couple, although I might have to see it for myself before I believe it. It is still kind of creepy having my MOTHER courting CODY...But that's life.**

**Speaking of Gertrude and Cody, the two of them have really changed the orphanage ever since my mother stepped down from the role of headmistress. Now Cody is the headmaster, and together with Gertrude, they made enough money to ameliorate the entire orphanage and get it looking like it when I was young. They also fired all of the old workers and hired much kinder ones. When I went back, it was exactly like returning to an old home, something I never felt with Teresa up in the position of headmistress.**

**I've been able to talk to my mother when it's possible. She is doing much better now. I think she's really happy for once in her life. I'm sure she still misses father, but she handles it much more confidently now...When I told her I might not see her for a long time though, she looked heartbroken...I hope it won't be too long after this heist that I can see her once more.**

**As for Carmelita, I feel kind of sorry for her. She got yelled at even though she was the one who helped the police arrest Luke Black, who is now in prison. Bentley was able to hack into the mainframe of Interpol and he found out Carmelita has a new partner to work with: Constable Neyla. She actually seems like quite an interesting character, but I'm going to be cautious...who knows what she can do?**

**I've bumped into Carmelita quite a few times, but I've never been able to just corner her. She's even more stubborn than ever. She's trying to cover everything up. It's almost as if nothing had ever happened between us. Heck, we've never told anyone about what happened and perhaps it may be better if we don't. It would ruin both of our reputations.**

**I can't help but look at the picture Chandler, Mike and Charlotte gave to me though. As soon as they saw me enter the room where we reunited right after Luke's arrest, they handed me a drawing they did. I never realized how much they had missed me until I saw it...Now I always keep it in my red pouch. It's kind of like a good luck charm for thefts... **

_**"Breaker Alpha Foxtrot, this is the Wizard. Do you copy, Sitting Duck?"**_

**Wish me luck, because it starts now...**

**(AUTHORESS NOTES)**

Hello, hello! I hope this chapter didn't disappoint at all (and I apologize for possible typos that I may have typed by accident). I really worked hard on it for you folks, so...Thanks for reading everyone! It was a pleasure to write for such awesome, great, supportive readers like you.

Merci! Arigato! Gracias! Thank you everyone!

Shady Fetish


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